The Fallen Prince (Dark Seas Series)

by Riokodragon

As Orca, Crown Princess of the SeaWings, attempts to hide her powers, her family works to uncover her secrets. In the aftermath, one of her remaining brothers sets out into Pyrrhia to stop animus magic for good, joining a thief with Queen Glacier on her scales, a captive-hatched MudWing, and an enchanted stone gryphon. Fic series containing Dark Seas, Stone Cold, and Rising Flames.

144. RF: Part 2: Chapters 34 to 40

Chapter 34

Hissssssssss . . .

Aurora's eyes opened wide. She stared at the stone wall opposite to her bed. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

Hissssssssss . . .

Aurora clutched at her ears as an intense pressure built up in them. She could feel the blood rushing in and out of her head, hear each of her heartbeats. Something about this felt familiar, but something was new. What was it? Was it Ash?

The hybrid raised her head up, turning it to the left and right. It wasn't difficult to figure out the direction it was coming from. Without another thought, Aurora followed it. She stepped through the wall of her room, out into a hallway, then through another room. A SkyWing let out a shriek as Aurora walked into her chambers, seeming appearing from nowhere. Aurora paid her no mind, and walked through the bed until reaching another wall, which she promptly disappeared into.

This time, the ground gave out under her, and a chilled wind brushed her. As she finished phasing, she spread out her wings to keep herself aloft. It didn't take long for her to figure out the disturbance: directly in front of her, towards the front of the palace, a huge pillar of light rose into the sky. The pillar was a brighter blue than the bluest sea, and was so wide two dozen SkyWings could have fit along it.

Aurora frowned. Something seemed all too familiar about it. She thought she'd seen a light like this in one of the dead iterations she'd visited with Crystal and Calamity. From a distance, it didn't seem so big, but here, it was huge.

A roar of dragons off to the side caught Aurora's glance. Four battle-claden SkyWings flew at the pillar of light, as if they hoped to fight it somehow. They never even reached it — once they reached about three times its width away, the SkyWings suddenly went still, falling out of the sky. Aurora watched them drop, until they hit the ground with a loud crash.

She frowned. Was it a weapon of some sort? She saw more SkyWings walk out of the palace, all seemingly drawn to the light as she'd been. Not just guards, but palace servants or slaves (Queen Scarlet didn't seem to care for the difference). So they could feel it too. None of the others tried to attempt what the first four dragons had done, just watching the pillar in anticipation.

"Your excellency!" a dragon called out. Two SkyWings flew up to Aurora's height, nervously glancing towards each as they approached her.

Aurora sighed. "What?" she muttered.

"H-her majesty wishes your presence," the other explained. "She hopes you can explain . . ." he gestured to the pillar. "She's in the old throne room."

"Fine," Aurora replied tersely. The old throne room. That was the one open to the sky, facing the arena. Without another word, she turned to the right, flying downwards until she reached the ledge.

The old throne room itself seemed barren and empty, since Queen Scarlet had moved the throne itself inside, for fear of a RainWing attack. Now, there was nothing in it except for a concerned Queen Scarlet and numerous SkyWing guards.

"I'm glad you're finally here," Queen Scarlet muttered, clutching the locked box with the Eye of Amethyst in it close. She peered around the edge of the balcony, staring at the blue pillar. "What is that thing?"

Aurora glanced back at it again. Nothing seemed to have changed since she'd last seen it. "I don't know," she responded truthfully. "It may be dangerous."

"May be dangerous?" Queen Scarlet spat. "Of course it's dangerous! I sent a few SkyWings over to inspect it, and they all died! What if it starts to move towards the palace?"

Aurora was silent. What could she say? She didn't know any better than Queen Scarlet what the pillar of light was, or why it was here. Maybe it would just go away.

Queen Scarlet let out a sigh, rolling her eyes. "Fine. If you don't know what it is, then there's no point in you being here. Come back when you have some advice to give me."

"Are you firing me?" Aurora asked, concerned.

"What? No," Scarlet snorted. "But if this thing goes on much longer, I might order you to investigate yourself. You'd be able to survive that, wouldn't you?"

Aurora flicked her tail. It depended on what was killing the SkyWings. If it was some sort of radiation, she'd be able to stop it with enough armor, although that would make it impossible to fly in. Would phasing keep her safe? She wasn't sure.

Aurora looked back at the light again, frowning. The timing seemed almost uncanny. What if Ash was causing this, or if there was at least some connection? She opened her wings, and took off from the ledge. She would hear what he had to say about it.

The arena was a directly in front of the ledge, so that even if she wasn't down there watching the fights close-up, Queen Scarlet would be able to watch over the tangled web of prisoners and decide which ones to use in the next fight from her throne, at least before she'd moved it. When Aurora flew up to the spires the prisoners were perched on, the web of metal was much less dense than Queen Scarlet would have liked it to be. Since the war had ended, it was more difficult for her to procure non-SkyWing prisoners, and there were only so many SkyWings she could sentence before she ran out of subjects. Plus, SkyWing versus SkyWing fights were just less thrilling.

Yet, there was one prisoner who wasn't in chains. Inferno would've melted them anyways. Aurora flew over to her, the fireborn's eyes watching closely as she approached. Aurora stretched out a talon, and a pole of stone poked against the muzzle. The stone turned to dust, and Inferno let out a sigh of relief. Aurora stared down, like she was expecting an explanation.

"Ash is asking if you can feel it," Inferno said quietly, her voice almost a whisper.

"Of course I can feel it," Aurora snarled back. "Every dragon in the palace can feel it. Does Ash know what it is?"

Inferno paused, listening to Ash as he spoke inside her mind. Aurora waited impatiently for her response.

"He's not sure," Inferno finally replied. "He says he'll need to get closer."

"He wants me to let him go," Aurora frowned. Was he just trying to escape? Or hurt her? She wasn't sure, but she didn't trust that he didn't pose a threat. "Let me talk to him, directly."

A few moments passed before Inferno responded, shaking her head. "He says that he can't, and that if it's what he thinks he is, he'll be exposed if he tries to control me."

"Exposed?" Aurora asked. "Exposed to whom?"

Inferno's mouth went tight. "He just says he needs to get closer to figure it out," she repeated.

Aurora flapped her wings as she looked towards the blue pillar of light. She didn't like freeing Inferno, but if she wanted to find out what was going on, she wasn't sure she had another choice. If Ash was telling the truth, than it sounded like he wouldn't risk trying to take over Inferno, but she couldn't be certain.

Aurora brushed the prison spire with her wing, and the stone cuffs around Inferno's limbs retracted, freeing her legs and tail. She glared at Inferno, speaking to Ash. "Don't try anything. If you try and touch me, I'll turn Inferno's scales to lead, and you'll be unable to move at all."

Inferno nodded. "He says that he doesn't want to try taking over me anyways. He's afraid."

Afraid? Aurora wondered as she got rid of the stone ring around Inferno's wings. Afraid of what?

Inferno spread her wings open with a sigh of relief, stretching them wide. She turned to Aurora, after giving them a few flaps, like she was making sure they still worked. "Ash wants to approach from the ground. He thinks it'll be safer."

"Fine," Aurora replied. "Don't get too close to the light. It killed a bunch of SkyWings who got near it earlier."

The two quietly glided down towards the light. Was it just Aurora, or did it seem brighter than it had been before? A safe distance away, they landed a small valley with some tree-cover, continuing walking towards the pillar on land. Sticks cracked and burned under the two dragons' paws as the pillar grew closer. Inferno stared up at it, the light as blue as her eyes.

"Stop," Aurora suddenly ordered, stretching out her wing in front of Inferno. Inferno squealed and jumped back, almost running into the hybrid's wing.

"Please give me more warning next time!" Inferno said, distressed. "I could have burnt you!"

"Look," Aurora said, pointing a talon on the ground a few dragon-lengths in front of her. Inferno followed it. A small bluebird was lying on the ground, dead. As Inferno raised her head, she could see more dead birds along the path to the pillar. "Is Ash close enough?"

Inferno took a step back, closing her eyes as she silently communicated with him. "He thinks it's a gateway. He says . . . someone from his iteration is coming after him, whatever that means."

"A gateway to another iteration," Aurora repeated, looking up at the blue light. She definitely wasn't imagining it. It was getting brighter. "So someone, or something, is going to come through. Are they a threat?"

Aurora waited a few moments for Inferno to respond. She didn't. Aurora glanced over to her. The orange glow around her scales had changed color, glowing as blue as the fireborn's eyes. A wave of heat from her passed over Aurora, causing the hybrid to step back. Inferno's gaze seemed to be held in a trance, her eyes focused on the pillar.

Aurora stared at the SkyWing as Inferno suddenly started to rise up in the air, floating a few feet off the ground as the air around her started to crackle. Aurora was still. Should she do something? What?

As soon as it had begun, it was over. Inferno dropped to the ground, falling flat on her underbelly. The blue light around her disappeared, along with the blue pillar. A cold wind rushed past Aurora from the direction the pillar of light had been. She looked towards it, to see that high up in the sky, a huge disk had appeared, glowing the same color that the pillar had been.

Suddenly, Aurora heard a great roar of dragons from above. Like a swarm of locusts, hundreds of colorful dragons appeared from the blue disk of light, flying down towards the SkyWing palace. For a second, Aurora just stared as the horde of RainWings went through the portal. Then she realized it. The SkyWings were under attack.

"I need to protect Queen Scarlet and the Eye," Aurora said out loud. Queen Scarlet was the key to Calamity's plan, she knew that for sure. She needed to stay alive. Aurora opened her wings, and took off.

"Wait!" Inferno called after Aurora from below. Aurora paid her no attention. Ash could wait. Her mission came first.

As Aurora rose into the sky, RainWings funnelling out from above her, she could see mixes of reds and oranges surrounding the palace. That was good. Queen Scarlet must have ordered her army to get ready for a fight after Aurora left, even without knowing that the blue pillar had been a portal. That bought Aurora some time.

RainWings and SkyWings clashed over the palace, and the thunderous roar of battle filled the air. RainWings descended over Aurora's head in a storm, and a cloud of dragons appeared around the front of the palace. Aurora dove straight towards it. For a moment, there was calm, and then Aurora was swarmed by the onslaught.

Everywhere she looked, dragons were fighting. She swerved to her left as two dragons fought talon-to-talon, crimson blood spraying through the air. To her right, a SkyWing latched teeth around a RainWing's neck, trying to tear out her throat. The two locked in combat and spiraled down, whacking Aurora to the side. She growled back at them as she quickly regained her flight balance, continuing on through the swarm.

A loud horn sounded from above, and almost instantly, the RainWings all vanished, leaving only distortions in the air where they'd been. The SkyWings looked around in confusion, before they started to plummet from the sky. Aurora saw a few try and defend against their attackers, clawing through scales and blood. An order was yelled out, and the SkyWings started to shoot fire and smoke around them, rendering the RainWings visible again in the cloud of smoke. Aurora held her breath as she flew through one, grazing a camouflaged RainWing with her tail as she flew past him.

Aurora suddenly let out a yelp as she felt a burning sensation on her side. She quickly concentrated, phasing through whatever had landed on her, and drops of venom splattered down onto a SkyWing below. She gave a short glance back to see that a black scar had spread out on her scales where the venom had hit. She could heal it later. Right now, she had more important things on her mind. A thin sheen of metal started to spread out across Aurora's scales, until she flew through the battle like a shining silver star.

That would be enough to protect her from more venom attacks. Aurora looked around at the SkyWings, most of which were already wearing light forms of metal armor over a lot of their scales. There were screams of dragons hit with venom filling the air, but not as many as Aurora would've expected. Although if it slowed them down, they at least had a chance to defend against the armor. Aurora wondered if Queen Scarlet had them trained and prepared specifically for an attack by invisible, venom-shooting RainWings. Even Aurora hadn't expected a RainWing attack on the Sky Kingdom, but maybe Queen Scarlet's paranoia of Glory and RainWings had come in handy after all. They were able to fight back.

A bright blue flash suddenly drew Aurora's gaze, followed by a crack and the yells of SkyWings. In front of her, at the border of the palace, bolts of lightning arced through the air, passing from one SkyWing to another, avoiding the RainWings. Aurora quickly morphed her metal armor to a ceramic one as she flew closer. The smell of burnt flesh rose up in Aurora's snout, and SkyWings began to fall from the sky. Whatever had done that, it wasn't natural.

Aurora squinted as the blinding light faded. Ahead of her, by the palace walls, Aurora spotted an empty space among the battlefield, cleared except for one dragon. A violet RainWing surrounded by a blue aura, golden stars and stripes glimmering over her scales. A twisted crown of golden vines and leaves spread over her head. This was the dragon who'd caused the lightning, and likely the one in charge of the RainWing invasion.

Aurora was suddenly knocked to the side again, and she felt talons trying to puncture her armor, teeth cracking as they tried to tear into it. She hissed as a RainWing tried to claw at her eyes, then created a huge spike on the side of her armor, piercing through the RainWing's flesh. The RainWing gave out a final cry of alarm, before Aurora shook herself mid-air, and the RainWing slid from the spike, a gaping red hole in his chest.

Almost immediately, three more RainWings tried to take his place. Aurora let out a roar of warning as they tried to grapple her, before her ceramic armor stretched, and a dozen more spikes expanded from it. One of the RainWings let out a yell as she was stabbed in her wing membrane, while the other two quickly turned tail, not wanting to approach Aurora. Aurora started to descend from the additional weight of the spikes and armor, gliding down towards the palace.

"Aurora, wait!"

Aurora glanced back to see Inferno. The fireborn was trying to make her way through the battlefield, dragons clearing a path for her as smoke rose up from her scales. Venom splattered against her, almost instantly boiling away and leaving nothing but small welts. She dove down as Aurora continued her downwards trajectory, gliding by her side.

"What do you want?" Aurora sighed.

"You need to stop!" Inferno pleaded.

Aurora turned her head away from Inferno, ignoring the SkyWing as she flapped her wings once more, barely giving her enough lift to let her crash down on one of the palace's many balconies with a thump, armor scraping against stone. Without delay, she got back up to her paws, and walked across to the edge of the balcony. In a straight line in front of her she could see the old throne room's balcony, with nothing in her way except a huge gap filled with RainWings and SkyWings.

"If I had the Eye of Amethyst, I'd be able to fly with my armor on," she muttered to herself, not heeding Inferno's warning. She could phase, but that took up her concentration, and was risky with the unknown threat of the crowned RainWing. "Maybe I can add hydrogen gas under the armor, to make it lighter than air. But the lightning—"

"Listen to me!" Inferno yelled out. She gritted her teeth as she grabbed ahold of Aurora's armored tail, trying to keep her from flying out over the edge. Aurora turned back as her armor heated up, teeth bared.

"Just look!" Inferno asked Aurora, as she let go of the hybrid's tail.

Aurora looked over at the old throne's balcony. Queen Scarlet was still there, surrounded by dozens of SkyWing guards. The SkyWing queen was shaking, more terrified than Aurora had ever seen her. She listened, trying to make out Scarlet's words through the ruckus.

"I knew it!" Queen Scarlet screamed, as one of the SkyWings tried to comfort her, covering her with his wings. "There were RainWings everywhere, invisible! They were spying on me, and Queen Glory is going to kill me! She's coming to finish off the rest of my face! Please, save me! I'll give you my kingdom, I'll give you anything!" She clutched the box containing the Eye of Amethyst, like it would give her protection.

Suddenly, the crowd went silent. The RainWings and SkyWings in front of Aurora started to clear away. The crowned dragon landed on the queen's balcony. Instantly, the SkyWings guarding Queen Scarlet ran towards her, attempting to attack the intruder. A mistake.

The Empress extended one paw, and a bolt of lightning shot from each of her talons, arcing from one SkyWing to the next as light danced around the balcony, before extending into the palace. A rumble shook the ground, and Aurora saw cracks rise through the stone beneath her. The stone started to give, and Aurora jumped back as the edge of the balcony crumbled away.

She looked up. Cracks had expanded, dust and rubble leaking out of the palace. She stared as a line expanded around one the palace's nearest tower, wrapping around it in a circle. A creak sounded through the air as the tower fell inwards, and with a huge crash, reverberating through the air, it slammed down onto the palace. SkyWings that had been hiding inside flew up, letting out screams as more of the palace started to collapse, another tower falling as centuries-old stone slid and tumbled. Like a landslide, chunks of the palace detached from each other, sliding down the mountainside before settling in ruins in the valley below.

Finally, the dust cleared, revealing what little was left intact of the SkyWing palace. With a whiff of smoked flesh, each of the guards fell down, dead, leaving only a shaking Queen Scarlet, hugging the box as she lowered her head, trying to protect it with her wings. She turned away from the Empress, as if hoping that she wouldn't be there if Queen Scarlet couldn't see her.

"I might have to take you up on that offer," the Empress replied. "You surrender yourself, your kingdom, your throne?"

"YES!" Queen Scarlet squealed, teeth chattering as tears ran down from her face. "Please, don't hurt me! No more venom, please!"

"Surrender accepted," Empress Liliana smiled as she sat back on her haunches. "I'll keep you alive. Where's the Wishstone? Is it in that box?"

"What?" Queen Scarlet asked, confused. She looked up at Empress Liliana, her fear already starting to subside. Scarlet frowned. "You're not Glory."

Aurora stared down at the scene, and made another motion to go forward and attack the Empress, before Inferno tugged back on her again.

"It's too late," Inferno whispered, talons shaking herself. "Ash says it's too late."

"It's not too late," Aurora growled as she spread her wings. "Queen Scarlet is still alive." She looked back to see the Empress, shaking the metal box with a frown, as if trying to guess at its contents without opening it. She set it down, shaking her head.

"Stop!" Inferno squealed. "You can't go down there! Ash says you can't win. We need to fly away, as fast as we can!"

"I can't let this interfere with Calamity's plan," Aurora replied, staring at the Empress. If Queen Scarlet was killed, Aurora couldn't serve her.

"You're my prisoner, right?" Inferno desperately argued. "Well, if you go and fight that RainWing, I'll escape! You can't have that happen, right?"

Aurora gave Inferno an annoyed look, then turned back again.

"Even Ash is pleading!" Inferno replied, voice shaking. "Ash is afraid. He wants you to protect him. Even if we weren't on the same side, I need you to protect me too."

Aurora paused, still focused on the Empress. Ash was asking her to protect him? A chill ran up through her spine. Was this really an enemy she could beat? "We were always on the same side," she said quietly. "The side of life."

"If that's true, then you need to protect us," Inferno pleaded. "So we can live."

Aurora hesitated, still focused on the Empress. This wasn't part of the plan. Ash, the RainWing attack. None of this was. Which meant that anything Calamity had told her might not even apply anymore. Calamity couldn't have predicted this. Which meant she was truly on her own.

Aurora's blood suddenly ran cold, terror rushing through every bone in her body. The Empress had turned, her gaze now focused on Inferno and Aurora.

Aurora took a step back as more of the balcony crumbled. Fight or flight? She tried to make a decision as she saw the Empress raise a paw up, lighting crackling between her talons. What was the right choice? Fight or flight? Aurora was frozen in uncertainty.

"AURORAPLEASE!" Inferno screamed out.

As the Empress extended her talons, Aurora dug her own into the ground. Inferno turned away and shut her eyes as lightning shot from them, preparing for her death as a loud crackle burst through her ears.

Inferno waited for a moment, then opened her eyes. The crackling was still there, but Inferno's insides had been fried. Inferno turned around. In front of her, a huge wall of bismuth and grown up between the two of them and the Empress. Interlocking squares expanded and contracted above Inferno's eyes, all the colors of a RainWing glittering as the sun shone down on it.

Inferno stared on in wonder for a second, before Ash spoke to her again. Her expression fell. "Ash says that won't hold her."

"I know," Aurora replied. On cue, a crack started to rise up in the stone wall, and a square chunk fell off, landing by Inferno's paws. A bolt of lightning shot through the missing panel, hitting the side of the palace. Aurora lifted her talons from the ground, and stepped back from her crumbling creation. "It will hold her long enough to help us escape. Hydrogen should work."

"Hydrogen?" Inferno asked, confused. "Why don't you just take off your armor? You'll be able to fly then."

Aurora shook her head. "Flying won't be fast enough." She frowned as she stepped over towards Inferno. There was no telling if this would work, and if she messed up, Calamity wasn't there to save her. "Can I trust Ash? If I touch you, will he attack me?"

Inferno shook her head. "He says he won't. He says he's not able to do much in his current form, and needs you on his side for this."

Aurora considered it for a second, as another huge bismuth crystal crashed down beside her. They didn't have much more time. She didn't like putting herself at risk like this, but it didn't seem like she had better options.

"Turn around, facing away from the wall, and crouch down," Aurora ordered Inferno. "I'm going to climb on you. Ash. You have some control over Inferno's scale-temperature, don't you? Reduce it as much as possible, so my armor doesn't heat up too quickly."

"Climb on me?" Inferno asked as she complied, confused. She let out a grunt as she felt Aurora place a paw on her back, her legs almost buckling under the weight of Aurora's armor. Even with a layer of ceramic between them, the feeling of having another dragon touching her was weird.

Aurora shifted so that her underbelly was between Inferno's wings, and grabbed onto the SkyWing's front legs. Her armor started to grow, creeping around Inferno until a tight cone stretched backwards from her tail. Inferno struggled, as she heard another crash from behind her. More chunks of the wall were coming down, and she squealed as a bolt of lightning shot past her side.

"What are you doing?" Inferno asked, trying to move her tail, which was now stuck in place. "How does this help us to fly?"

Rings of ceramic extended around Inferno, holding Aurora tight to her. The cone on the end of Inferno's tail kept growing, until it reached almost her body length, before enclosing back around itself. More bolts of lightning shot over them, and Inferno saw a cracks start to form in the base of the wall. It was about to fall.

"Hydrogen is flammable," Aurora explained. She dug her tail in, and turned the air inside the tapered cone to hydrogen.

Inferno let out a shrill scream as the gas ignited, and the two were propelled forward, off the balcony. She tucked her wings in and closed her eyes as Aurora grasped onto her, turning the cone downwards, and they were lifted into the sky, a trail of gas left behind them. A loud crash sounded over the roar of the continual flame around Inferno's tail, and Inferno opened her eyes to see the bismuth wall behind them finally fall, arcs of lightning cracking between the palace and the arenas, the prisoners' spires crashing down.

Aurora looked back, her eyes meeting with the Empress's, the RainWing's figure shrinking into the distance as the two were propelled forward faster than any dragon could fly. As they trailed across the sky like a shooting star, RainWings and SkyWings alike stared up at them from the ruins of the SkyWing palace below.

Chapter 35

Deathbringer let out a sigh of relief as the fortress came back within sight, and he dove down towards it, alongside Hailstorm and Jambu. The flight back from the palace had been tense, the three worried that at anytime, they'd be caught and killed. But they hadn't been accosted by Queen Blackice's soldiers — he guessed they'd managed to travel faster than the news of Hoarfrost's death had.

As they were seen descending, a few IceWings walked from the front of the stronghold to greet them, Hemlock among them. Deathbringer gave once last glance behind them, just to make sure they weren't being followed. He landed, his paws touched snow, and a grin crossed his face. It might not have been the largest victory, but this had been a victory nonetheless. Finally, they'd dealt a blow against Queen Blackice.

"I'm glad you're back safely," Hemlock greeted them with a relieved smile. "I was worried something had happened to you. Were you successful?"

"We completed our main objective," Hailstorm carefully replied, tucking his wings in as he landed on the snow. "Hoarfrost is dead. But it wasn't clean. All three of us were spotted."

"All three?" Hemlock frowned. "So they know you're alive? You're sure of it?"

Prince Hailstorm nodded. "I'd hoped to keep it hidden, but the news is bound to have gotten to Blackice by now. I doubt she'll be too shocked. She has to already know Prince Winter is still at Jade Mountain."

Hemlock considered this for a moment, the IceWing turning her head back and forth as she thought. Finally, her expression changed to a grin. "We can use this to our advantage. If we reveal your presence now, and attribute Hoarfrost's death to you, instead of two outsiders, our potential allies will be thrilled. Do I have your permission?"

Prince Hailstorm nodded. "Better that we do it soon. I don't want to hear what tale Blackice spins about Hoarfrost's death."

"Excellent!" Hemlock replied. She turned to one of the IceWings next to her. "Go draft a letter for me, declaring Hailstorm alive and asking our allies and Blackice's enemies to join us in battle. We need this done as soon as possible."

The IceWing bowed, before scampering off into the fortress. Hemlock turned back to the three, frowning as she saw Jambu's expression. His scales were covered in a mix of blues and purples, and even an IceWing could tell that the RainWing looked strangely grim.

"What's with him?" she asked Deathbringer. "He seems less . . . excited than before."

"He was the one who managed to kill Hoarfrost," Deathbringer explained. "I'm glad we brought him along."

"Him?" Hemlock said, shocked. She turned to Jambu, and gave him a pat on his back with one of her paws. "Congratulations! If you were a high-born IceWing, Queen Glacier definitely would've brought you up in the rankings for such a heroic feat!"

Jambu shied away, his scales turning an even more vivid color. Hemlock gave him a quizzical look, unsure why he wasn't as excited as she was.

"He's a RainWing," Hailstorm tried to explain, "they don't do stuff like that a lot. This is the first time he's ever killed someone."

Hemlock frowned, not really understanding. "Wouldn't that be cause to celebrate?" Seeing Hailstorm's expression, she just shook her head, ignoring the topic. "Regardless, we need to plan if we want to time our battle right. Blackice is rash, but she's predictably cruel and chaotic. Deathbringer, can you come inside? I want to discuss tactics with you, in the little time we have left."

"It would be my pleasure," Deathbringer replied, walking with Hemlock inside the fortress. The crowd of IceWings that had come with Hemlock followed the two back, leaving Jambu and Hailstorm alone outside of the fortress doors.

Hailstorm looked over at Jambu in worry. Ever since the assassination, Jambu's tone had changed. The RainWing had been quiet and distant, like he'd only now realized that it would take violence for them to defeat Blackice. Hailstorm almost missed the RainWing prince's silly flirtations.

"Are you alright?" Hailstorm asked. He placed his wing over Jambu, like he was to warm him up.

Jambu scooped his claws through the snow, and let out a long sigh as it fell through his talons. "I don't know," he replied, his voice hushed. "I just — killing dragons is one of the worst offenses anyone can commit in the rainforest. It's such a horrible thing to do, to take someone's life." He looked up at Hailstorm, staring into the IceWing's eyes. "And now I've done it. I'm a murderer. How can I lead the RainWings after this? I should be exiled instead."

Hailstorm shook his head. "Queen Glory killed, didn't she?"

"I know," Jambu grumbled. "But she only did it self-defense. This was different. This was an assassination. Hoarfrost didn't attack me, we went into his home and I killed him."

Hailstorm thought about that for a moment. "I think that's only partially true. It's hard to remember now, but I was there when Queen Glory almost killed Queen Scarlet with her venom. That wasn't self-defense. She did it to try and save her friends. This wasn't much different, was it? Hoarfrost was a horrible dragon, who helped kill Queen Glory, and was going to kill more NightWings and RainWings. By killing him, you stopped that. You saved them."

"I guess," Jambu sighed, some of the dismal tones in his scales decreasing as his mood became lighter. "That makes me feel a little bit better. But I don't like being told it was a good thing. Hemlock and Deathbringer are calling me a hero for murder."

Hailstorm smiled, and wrapped his wing closer around Jambu. "I think it's good you feel that way. There's nothing wrong with you, just because you don't think what you did deserves to be called heroic. It's something wrong with the Ice Kingdom, and the Sky Kingdom, and really the rest of Pyrrhia. Everyone in this world seems to think killing is the right and only way of action. Maybe, sometimes they are. The War of SandWing Succession wouldn't have ended without Burn and Blister dead. Blackice and Hoarfrost might need to die for the RainWings and NightWings to be saved. But that doesn't mean we need to glorify murder and violence, when they should only be used when absolutely necessary. I think we should praise peace, love, and forgiveness instead."

Jambu's colors started to soften, blues disappearing as pinks and magentas started to shine through his scales. He smiled, and nestled his horns beneath Hailstorm's chin. "You're really wise, you know that?"

Hailstorm let out a laugh, patting Jambu on his neck. "I'm really not! I've just made a lot of mistakes, and I'm trying to make up some lost ground before I become a leader. There aren't any female heirs left, which means I'm going to have to be in charge of the IceWings, at least temporarily, if we win."

"Wow," Jambu replied. At least he'd have Deathbringer and Grandeur and Greatness all sharing their position until Firefly was old enough to be queen. "That's a big job. Hey. Do you think I'll be able to see you again after this is over?"

"I hope so," Hailstorm responded. "I promise, if we win, and Blackice is ousted, then one of my first acts will be opening permanent diplomatic relations with the RainWings and NightWings. I want to make sure something like this never ever happens again. I'll dig out a hole in the Great Ice Cliff if I have to."

Jambu folded his wings in, and leaned up against Hailstorm's neck. "Mhmm," he grinned, as he dug his claws into the snow. "And I can come in, and see the Great Ice Palace? A proper tour, this time?"

"Of course," Hailstorm replied, placing one of his paws around Jambu's neck. "A real tour."

Jambu smiled as he placed his claws over Hailstorm's, interlocking talons. "That would be nice . . ."

---

Deathbringer stared down at Midnight's enchanted scroll, his paws sinking into the mud where he stood. Three days had passed since he'd left Hemlock and Hailstorm at the fortress. Getting back through the rainforest had been far easier than getting through — Deathbringer wasn't quite sure he could ever repay Six-Claws. Even if the SandWing army was busy fighting their own war right now, Six-Claws had been more than willing to send the two with a SandWing escort large enough to deter any attacks from the few IceWings remaining around the tunnels. Two dozen dragons, all who'd volunteered to stay with Deathbringer and Jambu and serve as their personal guards indefinitely, either out of a desire to do good in Pyrrhia, or just getting bored of the siege. It wasn't much, but Deathbringer would feel safer having them flying beside him.

Still, the little resistance they'd ran into worried him. It meant that Queen Blackice was likely no longer at the NightWing island herself, and most of her troops had moved northwest, towards Jade Mountain. Just as he'd predicted, she planned to position herself between the Mud Kingdom and Jade Mountain, to ambush the dragons at Deathbringer's camp before they reached safety. Not that much of a surprise. Deathbringer had asked Six-Claws to send a letter to Jade Mountain, warning the dragons there of what was going to happen, and requesting for their support in the battle. Everything depended on that. If his forces at Jade Mountain didn't fight alongside him, or if Hemlock's troops weren't able to rally and fly through the volcanic island in time, he'd be faced with a crushing defeat.

Deathbringer took in a deep breath as he stepped from his tent. All around him, dragons were pulling their tents down, SandWings helping NightWings and RainWings gather their belongings. From the corner of Deathbringer's eyes, he spotted a NightWing mother, helping her two dragonets gather scrolls and jewelry. The little that they'd managed to take with them after losing their home in the rainforest, and before that, their home on the volcano. Deathbringer wondered which of the three would survive the journey. He looked back down at the animus-touched scroll, rolling it open as his gaze fell on the healing enchantment. He wouldn't let any of them die.

"Ntpoi. Ndif. Tionrecdi," Deathbringer whispered, trying to picture Blackice in his mind's eye. The red arrow twisted, and he followed it, putting the sun behind him. Due west. Between them, and Jade Mountain.

Deathbringer walked through the camp, watching as more dragons prepared to leave. He'd asked that they take only their most precious belongings. The fabrics that they'd used for the tents would be left behind in the mud. Queen Moorhen could clean it up herself. The flight would still be slow; they could only go as fast as their slowest dragonet.

He stepped into the muddy clearing where he'd trained his soldiers. He smiled, as he saw most of them were already there. He shouldn't have been surprised. They all knew what today was, as well as he did.

Deathbringer stepped out in front of them. NightWings, dotted with RainWings and SandWings were all lined up in rows. A few held makeshift spears or wore rusted armor, but most would just be using their claws, teeth, and scales. They were hardly an army, less than a hundred in numbers. But they were what Deathbringer had.

Deathbringer lifted his head, looking back and forth across the . "I don't have much to say," he spoke. "The only thing I can say, is thank you. You are putting your lives at line. Many of you don't have to be here right now. You could fly east, hide in the woods, or return to the Sand Kingdom. But you didn't. You chose to stay. When the history scrolls speak of us, they'll remember your courage, your sense of justice. How brave dragons gave their lives to protect the innocent. Keep that in your heart when you fight, remember that you're fighting so that they can live. And even if it kills me, I'll do all that I can to protect you, just like you protect them. That is what we are. Protectors."

The crowd of dragons went silent. There were no cheers, just a solemn moment of contemplation. Deathbringer understood. These weren't warriors. These dragons didn't want to fight. They only fought so that others could live.

"C'mon," Deathbringer said, looking at the camp around him. "It's time to go."

It was another hour before the group finally took off. Other than a small rear guard, the dragons Deathbringer had trained took their position at the front of the group, to defend the refugees in the back when the time arose. Deathbringer stared back at the flattened camp behind them, a mess of cloth and wood. His thoughts went to Firefly. This had been where she'd hatched. More than anything, Deathbringer hoped that the rest of her dragonet years would be spent in the rainforest, being raised by him. At least she was safe.

The travel was slow. It took a lot longer for a few hundred dragons to move than just one. Most of the NightWing population was here. At least what little was left of it, after centuries of starvation on the volcano, and Blackice's genocide in the rainforest.

When it finally felt like they were going at a steady pace, darkness started to fall. Deathbringer had considered trying to fly in the dark, but they had too many RainWings among them for that, and if they slept during the day, they'd be both grounded and tired if the IceWings attacked. It wasn't like he could hide this many dragons. Here, they had the advantage if Blackice attempted to attack them.

The first night, they slept by the western edge of the Mud Kingdom. Deathbringer could even see Queen Moorhen's palace from here. MudWings walked around the city surrounding it, oblivious and uncaring to the plight of the dragons just to their south. Occasionally, he saw one approach the camp, only to retreat again. Moorhen wouldn't be happy that they were still in her territory, but Deathbringer less than cared. She could tolerate a single night of them sleeping there.

It was only on the second day when they finally left the Mud Kingdom. Deathbringer stared as they passed over the borders of the marshland, and the land began to dry. Trees started to dot the landscape as it rose. They were no longer in MudWing territory. This was neutral land. This was where the real fight begun.

The sun was low in the sky as they passed into the foothills east of the Winding Tail River, where the edge of the rainforest creeped over. Here, at least, the fire hadn't reached. The trees were still lush and green. A gentle whiff of the coast even reached Deathbringer from here. He looked down at the scroll. It still pointed west, towards Jade Mountain.

A loud yell suddenly sounded out from in front of Deathbringer. He looked up to see a NightWing, fresh blood dripping from his scales as he flew towards the group. One of the lookouts Deathbringer had sent ahead.

"We're under attack!" he yelled again, as he got closer. "IceWings!"

Deathbringer looked left and right. IceWings? he wondered. Where?

"Get in defensive positions!" Deathbringer ordered his soldiers, regardless. "Get ready to fight!" Where were they? Queen Blackice was still to the west, so their main army couldn't be here.

Suddenly, an IceWing shot down from the sky, diving down at the lookout. The IceWing grabbed onto him mid-flight, tearing through his wings as they fell through the sky. The lookout managed to turn around, throwing the IceWing off him as another NightWing flew forward to join him. The IceWing began to retreat, flying backwards. It couldn't have just been one, right?

Deathbringer's eyes tracked where the IceWing had come from, until his head pointed straight up. Fluffy white clouds filled the sky, slowly travelling across the sky. Deathbringer squinted, as he saw a hint of movement between the whisps of white.

"They're in the clouds!" Deathbringer yelled out. "Fly up! Protect from above!"

His order came not a moment too late. As his troops flew away from the front of the mass of civilians, forming a layer above them, IceWings started to rain down from the sky. Claws clashed as they dove into the protective layer. Deathbringer stared, and was just about to join them in battle, before stopping mid-flight. He winced as he clutched the scroll. He needed to watch the battle, give orders, and heal. Right now, he couldn't fight himself.

Deathbringer took a moment to examine the enemy forces. The IceWings had stopped descending, and now formed a white film on top of the blacks, greens, and golds of his own troops. There were far less of them than he'd expected — even less than his own number of fighting dragons. A flash of black scale-paint caught his gaze. One of the Black Princes, but not the queen herself. So this wasn't the full army, but a small group that had splintered off. Deathbringer bared his teeth, and clenched his claws. He felt cowardly, way back here where no one could hurt him.

Deathbringer's heart raced as he spotted a NightWing falling from the sky, unable to keep aloft as an IceWing tore at her wings. Deathbringer's talons almost ripped through the scroll as he whispered the words needing to activate the healing enchantment. "Cindime Dybo Ndmi."

Almost instantly, their fight was turned around. The wounds on the NightWing healed, and a new vigor overcame her. She rotated around mid-air, tearing at the IceWing as streaks of blue appeared on his wings. Deathbringer smiled, remind himself of how important his position in the fight was.

Another battle came under his gaze. He winced as an IceWing shot a blast of frostbreath, covering a RainWing's wings. The RainWing turned as white as the IceWing as he started to drop like a rock. Deathbringer whispered the words, not quite sure if it had done anything for a moment. Right before the RainWing hit the treeline, his wing stretched out again, and he swooped back up, into the fight.

Deathbringer continued like this, yet it seemed that whenever a dragon was healed, another one got injured. Still, the battle continued. No matter what Deathbringer did, it felt like they could make no progress. He thought that the number of IceWings was slowly diminishing, but he couldn't be sure. Worse, his own inexperienced troops were being pushed down, and the ground crept closer to Deathbringer. Soon, the IceWings would have his dragons pinned against the ground.

They needed to take out the leader. Deathbringer started to focus his attention on the Black Prince, a colossal IceWing who seemed to never tire. The IceWing had just engaged in combat with two NightWings, and even with the disadvantage of numbers, was still winning. As blue blood dripped from the Black Prince's wounds, he tore his teeth into one of the NightWings, tearing out a chunk of wing membrane.

Deathbringer grinned mischievously. He would never expect what was coming to him. Deathbringer looked at the NightWing the Black Prince was attacking, and started to say the words to heal him. As the battleground shifted from a stray burst of wind, the two dragons turned around mid-combat, the NightWing disappearing from view.

It took a moment for Deathbringer to realize what he'd done, and he whacked his snout with his talons. "Moons," he winced, as the IceWing's wounds started to heal, the Black Prince letting out a huge roar of vigor. Deathbringer had healed the wrong dragon.

Deathbringer quickly healed the two NightWings on him, but the damage was already done. The Black Prince had new-found energy, and the battle kept raging on. Slowly and slowly, the IceWings pressed down on Deathbringer's forces, pinning the civilian dragons beneath to the ground.

Then, an IceWing fell from the sky. Deathbringer stared as he watched the IceWing fall. Her wings were still outstretched as she tumbled down, trying to glide as she crashed into the trees below. Deathbringer frowned. That was odd, he hadn't seen any wounds. As he looked away, another IceWing suffered a similar fate, disengaging from the combat he'd been in to try and make an emergency landing.

Deathbringer heard a whizzing sound, and saw a flash of movement in the sky. Just moments later, two dozen IceWings started to follow suit, trying to escape combat as they glided down to the rainforest floor, trees breaking their fall. What was going on? Deathbringer looked over at the Black Prince, across the battlefield, but he seemed as confused as Deathbringer was.

"Push them up!" Deathbringer yelled out. With just a couple dozen IceWings down, the stalemate was broken, and the tide of the battle turned. Deathbringer didn't have time to puzzle out what was happen: he was too focused on healing his dragons in battle. He knew he wouldn't be able to save everyone in the battle against Blackice, but at least in this skirmish, none of his troops would die. They started to push back, and the IceWings rose up in the sky, away from the civilians.

Deathbringer glanced down as he thought he saw a flash of movement beneath him. One of the fallen IceWings had landed in a small clearing between the treetops, unmoving. Deathbringer stared for a moment. Had the IceWing died? No. The soldier was . . . sleeping?

Deathbringer jolted as he heard another whizz run past him, and something shot up into the air. A second wave of IceWings started to glide down from the sky, barely able to keep themselves aloft as they dove into the foliage. What was going on?

"Miss me?"

Deathbringer turned around, only to see the air behind him shimmering. Blindingly pink scales started to appear, and suddenly rushed at Deathbringer. Deathbringer winced and turned away as Jambu gave him a mid-flight hug.

"Jambu?" Deathbringer asked, pushing the RainWing prince off him. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in the south."

"Helping you, of course!" Jambu grinned. "Look!" He pointed a talon to the rainforest floor. Suddenly, colorful scales started to appear through the trees, RainWings removing their disguises. Jambu made a motion with his wing, and dart guns were lifted into the air. In unison, they were fired, and sleeping dots shot up past Deathbringer, hitting a few of the IceWings nearest to the ground.

Deathbringer grinned, and suddenly returned the hug Jambu had given him. "Wow. You're amazing."

"I know," Jambu beamed, basking in the praise. "They all wanted to do something to help too, but they don't know how to fight claw-to-claw, so we decided on this! They'll support you from below. We've actually been here for a while, we just had to wait until they got close enough."

Deathbringer nodded, then turned to the crowd of dragons. "Civilians, land in the rainforest!" he yelled out. The dragons beneath him all started to descend, getting down beneath tree cover as quickly as possible. "My troops! Start to descend, stay above the treetops!"

He turned to Jambu as his dragons followed his orders, forming a protective layer over the RainWing dart-gunners and the civilians beneath them. The IceWings followed, following down even with their greatly reduced numbers.

"Jambu, are they ready?" Deathbringer asked, as he descended himself to the treetops.

Jambu nodded, and stretched out his wings. "Fire!" he called out.

The RainWings brought up their dart-guns, and sleeping darts filled the air. Deathbringer smiled as he saw the Black Prince tense up. Within a few moments, he, along with the majority of the remaining IceWings, started to slow, their movements becoming droopy. The Black Prince stretched out his wings, trying to keep himself aloft for a few more moments. He started to fade into unconsciousness, and glided down, whooshing past Deathbringer as he crashed into the foliage.

The few IceWings left were frozen for a moment. They were outnumbered. Their leader was gone. What could they do?

"Do you surrender?" Deathbringer yelled out as he flew upwards. There was no response, but he saw an IceWing drop his weapon. Then another one. The rest quickly followed, and NightWings engulfed them as they were brought to the ground.

"We won!" Jambu said, excited. A cheer rose up from the NightWings, RainWings, and SandWings alike. Deathbringer grinned. Jambu was right. They'd won this battle, fully and completely.

Deathbringer paused for a moment. Hemlock had mentioned that much of Queen Blackice's army had been forced into service, under the threat of death to them or their families. "Of the IceWings who haven't been sedated, tell them that Prince Hailstorm has returned, and is challenging Blackice's illegitimate reign. Give them the option of joining us and swearing loyalty to him. Tell them that they and their families will be protected. If they refuse, sedate them, and keep them under constant watch. Re-sedate them if they awake. We need all the allies we can get."

Jambu nodded, and turned away, gliding down to deliver Deathbringer's message. The NightWing let out a tired sigh, as the sun started to set in the west. This was just the first battle.

NightWings and RainWings alike celebrated as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, and they made camp beneath the treetops. Even Deathbringer couldn't help but have a small smile on his face as he walked out into a crowd of soldiers and civilians alike, and cheers greeted his ears.

"To King Deathbringer!" a NightWing yelled. "To our victory!"

"To King Deathbringer!" more dragons shouted, like a chant rising up through the rainforest. Deathbringer shifted his wings anxiously. He hadn't meant to be a king. To be honest, he was far more comfortable in the shadows, whether buildings' or in Queen Glory's.

"To Queen Glory!" a RainWing yelled out. More dragons joined her in the chant. Deathbringer felt a pain of hurt in his chest, and he could tell that he wasn't the only one. He stared down at the sticks beneath his paws, cracking one. They missed her too, and the three brief years of peace her reign had brought.

Deathbringer raised his claws, and the crowd immediately went silent, expecting a victory speech. Instead, he had little to say. "Anyone in need of healing, please come see me as soon as possible."

Deathbringer turned away from the group, who quickly resumed their cheering and celebration without him. They had the right to celebrate, but he couldn't. He just felt empty. This wasn't a fight for valor, or riches, or glory. It was a fight for survival.

Light faded from the sky as blues turned to black. The trees opened up, and Deathbringer stepped out onto a small mound on the edge of the rainforest. He stared, stars dotting the sky until they disappeared at the jagged peaks to the west. The Claws of the Clouds. Two twin peaks rose up, piercing the constellations. Jade Mountain was so close, but so far away. They just had to get there, and that would be it.

Deathbringer suddenly whipped around, as he saw motion from the trees. He breathed a sigh of relief as a RainWing stumbled up the hill in the darkness.

"Jambu," Deathbringer said. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

"I needed to tell you something," Jambu replied. Deathbringer couldn't tell what color his scales were, his emotions hidden by the greyscale of night vision. "I, er, did as you asked. But none of the IceWings defected."

"None of them?" Deathbringer asked, surprised. Had Hemlock been wrong? "Are they all that loyal to her?"

Jambu shook his head. "I don't think so. They didn't seem that way. Just afraid. That's all. I'm going to party now. You should too! We won!"

Just afraid, Deathbringer wondered, as Jambu walked off. His talons started to shake as he realized what that meant. If they joined him and Hailstorm, and they won, they'd be free and safe. If they joined and Blackice won, they'd all be dead. He'd essentially asked them to place bets on who they expected to win the fight.

Which meant not one of them thought Deathbringer could win.

Deathbringer rolled out the scroll. The arrow still pointed west, and as he raised it to the sky, he could see it align perfectly between Jade Mountain's two peaks. The cheers and laughs of dragons faded into the darkness as he stared.

It was far too soon for celebration. With Queen Blackice still lying in wait, the worst was still ahead of them.

Chapter 36

Ermine slowly crept up the stairs, shaking as he stepped out into the greenhouse. Light glinted off his white scales, and an unnatural warmth touched his cold blood. The plants seemed to creep and grow around him as he walked forward, the lenses above the Obscura spinning and rotating. The image of a SandWing appeared within it, before shifting to a scavenger, then to a SkyWing.

Glory stood in front of the Obscura, her scales a pale grey as she placed her talons along the face of the sphere. Ermine creeped closer, shuddering and making himself small. He looked left and right, wondering if there were any guards around.

"What do you want?" Glory growled as she heard his clawsteps. She took her talons away form the Obscura, and the image faded. She turned around, staring down at a frightened Ermine. "Where's the rest of your little crew?"

"I-I just wanted to talk," Ermine replied, tucking his head beneath his wings.

Glory frowned, squinting at the IceWing. "Talk?" she asked, not quite sure what he meant. She sighed. "I mean, I'm a little busy running an empire here, but sure, go ahead and waste my time."

"Oh," Ermine shifted uncomfortably. "I was j-just wondering, do you remember the other Dragonets of Destiny?"

Glory's tail twitched. "If you're trying to do what you all did to Mangrove, I already told you it won't work. I still have most of my memories from before. The Empress returned a lot of them to me, and filled in a bunch of the gaps."

Ermine shook his head. "No, I'm not trying to get you to help us or turn on the Empress. I'm just . . . curious, since you're so different than the Glory I saw at Jade Mountain. I saw Tsunami in the Obscura, imprisoned, and I know the Glory I remember wouldn't have let that happen to her friends."

"Well, she wouldn't be have been able to stop it either," Glory pointed out. "Because she's dead. Regardless, they're not my friends anymore. Many years ago, I tried to contact them, but none of them remembered me well enough."

"Oh," Ermine said. "That's kind of sad."

Glory stared down at the small IceWing, irked by the look of pity he was giving her. "It's not," she assured him. "I have a different life now, that I'm happy with. And they have their own lives now. Some of which are happier than others."

"You watch them?" Ermine asked. "Do you still miss them?

Glory grimaced. She hadn't thought she'd let that slip. She sighed, shaking her head. "Yes," she admitted. "Of course I do. But sometimes things happen, and friends just drift apart over time. There's not much that can be done about it."

"Even though my Glory had drifted apart from the other Dragonets, they were still good friends," Ermine pointed out. "They had thought they always would be. Then . . . she died. By the same dragon w-who," he paused, choking up a little, "who killed my parents." He shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. "She was more than a friend to the other Dragonets. She was family. Even if they didn't speak as often anymore, the other Dragonets wer-are heartbroken. The whole school could feel it."

Glory's expression softened a little, feeling a little sympathy for the IceWing dragonet. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm at least a little glad to hear that they missed me."

Ermine raised his head, meeting Glory's eyes. "If you ever wanted to . . . I think the Pyrrhian Dragonets would be really excited to see you again."

Glory hesitated. For a second, Ermine could tell she was considering his offer. Then, she shook her head. He let out a sigh.

"Sorry," Glory replied, hiding a hint of shame. "I can't. I'm no longer the dragon I used to be. I'm just not sure I'd live up to their expectations. Now, my place is here, by the Empress's side, with Deathbringer."

"Alright," Ermine said glumly. He closed his eyes. "May I-may I use the Obscura?"

"The Obscura?" Glory asked, confused. She looked behind her, up at the humongous cloudy orb. "Why?"

"I wanted to see my parents again," Ermine quietly replied, his voice barely a whisper. "They were killed back on Pyrrhia."

"Oh," Glory said, understanding. She closed her eyes, and sighed. "I suppose that's alright. Just . . . don't expect too much. They might not be on Antigonia, and if they are, they might be nothing like their Pyrrhian counterparts."

"I want to try." Ermine shook as he stepped forward, lifting his head up, the Obscura towering over it. His talons shuddered as he slowly brought them up to the orb. Glory stepped back as he touched it, and an image appeared on the glass.

Ermine just stared as two IceWings appeared on the image, resting together on the cold floor of a house. Neither made any movement, nor did they speak a word. They just stayed still, like they were waiting for something. Glory glanced over at Ermine, frozen up. Tears started to spill from the IceWing dragonet's eyes, but the only sound Glory heard from him was a quiet breath.

One of the IceWings raised her head, and looked around, as she could sense her dragonet's presence. She whispered something unintelligible to her mate, but he just shook his head. She placed her head back down, and let out a quiet sigh.

"It's me," Ermine whispered, voice shaking. "I'm here."

Glory grimaced. "They can't see you," she explained.

Ermine didn't respond. For what seemed like an eternity, he just stared, his deceased parents' likeness right before him. His paw moved along the sheer surface of the glass, like he was trying to touch them.

Finally, he fell backwards, and the image disappeared. He stumbled, and gently landed on the lush ground of the greenhouse, dirt coating his scales. Glory sighed, shaking her head. He'd used the Obscura for too long. She should've stopped him earlier.

Ermine stared up at the ceiling of the greenhouse, sunlight distorted by the glass and his watery eyes. Here, his parents were still alive. He'd gotten to see them, one last time. Slowly, he raised himself to all fours, barely able to walk.

"Thank you," Ermine whispered, wiping tears off his scales.

Glory's wings were tucked into her side, and she stepped off the path so Ermine could walk back. "It's nothing," she said quietly. "I'm glad you got to see them again."

Ermine nodded, and his paws heavy, paced past Glory. Once he'd walked back down the stairs, Glory turned back to the Obscura.

She shook her head and sighed as she stepped up to the clouded orb, and placed a paw on it. Her scales turned grey as Clay's image appeared on the surface.

---

Skytaker whipped around as they heard the door to the guest room open up. The four other dragons inside all turned with them, unsure who the dragon on the other side would be.

Ermine stepped inside the room, all eyes on the IceWing dragonet. Skytaker frowned. His head was down, his eyes still moist.

"What happened?" Skytaker asked, concerned. "How did it go? Do you think she's distracted?"

"Yeah," Ermine sighed. "Probably."

"Probably?" Skytaker questioned.

"She is," Darkstalker interrupted them. He looked over at Ermine, as he read his mind. "You don't need to feel bad for tricking her. It's silly for you to feel any sympathy for her, just cause she did one kind thing. She's still the Empress's evil enforcer."

Ermine turned his head, avoiding any eye contact. "I know," he replied, unassuredly.

"Then we need to get going," Skytaker said anxiously. "We might not have long. Follow."

Skytaker sped out from the room, the other five dragons following. Tiger grabbed off two books from the desk before leaving. They might need a map. She shut the door behind them, staring at it for a moment. It had been their home and their prison for a while now. For better or for worse, this might be the last time she'd see it.

They walked down the hallway, Skytaker standing in the golden circle to summon the moving room. Midnight gave Ecru a worried glance. Can she sense the animus magic used here? Midnight wondered. And if they succeeded in escaping, that meant that they had to go up against the dragon who enchanted the place. Had the Empress lost her soul from using the Wishstone? Or was it still around? What had happened to the animus who'd created an artifact that could do anything?

The doors to the room opened, and they stepped in. Skytaker walked into the center, imagining the entrance. Sunlight, and freedom. The room started to move, and before they knew it, they'd opened again. They stepped out in front again, triumphantly. Hopefully, this would be the last time.

A whiff of fresh air reached the SkyWing-NightWing hybrid's snout, and they grinned. Without hesitation, they waltzed down the entrance, until a glimmer of sunlight hit their snout. Two spears suddenly shot up in front of Skytaker's eyes, and they took an instinctive step back.

"Halt!" a RainWing yelled. The two dragons guarding the exit stepped forward, growling at the six. "What are you doing?"

Skytaker walked a few paces back, out of the light. They swished their tail. "Escaping," they grinned.

Darkstalker and Midnight suddenly leaped forward, claws outstretched as they engaged in combat. Skytaker smiled. Now, they had two dragons in the group that could fight.

The RainWing on Darkstalker jabbed her spear at him as he pounced. His paws wrapped around it mid-air, already knowing when and where she was going to attack. The spear snapped as he landed on it, a piece flying up towards the wall. The RainWing's scales immediately faded away, as she became invisible. She ran around Darkstalker's side, hoping to confuse him for a moment.

"Won't work on me," Darkstalker growled, whacking his tail into her neck like a SeaWing would. He leaped onto her back, tearing off scales as flashes of white burst through them. She tried to twist around to the left to push him off, but he had already shifted his weight to the right. She rolled over, and Darkstalker landed on her side. His claws went around her horns, and with a sudden twist, the RainWing's neck cracked, falling limp on the ground.

"Midnight, duck!" Darkstalker yelled out.

Midnight ducked, and a splattering of venom shot harmlessly between her horns. Just a moment later, and it would have reached her eyes. She leaped forward, and tackled the RainWing as the guard prepared to do another shot. She grabbed his neck as his talons raked along her side, and shoved him to the ground.

"Head left, right claws down!" Darkstalker suggested. Almost immediately, the RainWing snapped up at Midnight, barely avoiding the attack by moving her head to the left. She slammed her right claws down, talons wrapping around the RainWing's throat. Midnight clenched her talons, poking them into the RainWing's neck. The RainWing wriggled, staring up at Midnight as his scales turned a terrified pale green.

"Now tear it out!" Darkstalker yelled.

Midnight looked over to him, with a disgusted stare. "What? I'm not going to—" She let out a yelp as she felt the RainWing's talons scrape beneath her wing, drawing blood. She turned to the RainWing with a snarl. "Do you want me to kill you?"

"If we leave them, they'll alert Glory," Darkstalker pointed out. "We can't let them go."

Ecru took a step forward, and picked up the broken half of the spear that the RainWing on Darkstalker had been wielding. She prodded the RainWing in the side with it, making him yelp. A few moments later, he laid his head back, and his eyes closed. "That should keep him asleep long enough, right? She'll figure it before too long, anyways."

Darkstalker shook his head scoldingly, and sighed. "Maybe."

Ecru frowned as she stepped over to the RainWing that Darkstalker had killed. She put her talons on the RainWing's eyelids, and gently closed them. "Sorry," she whispered. She glared over at Darkstalker in disapproval. "That was unnecessary."

"They're all evil anyways," Darkstalker replied. "I saved you from them earlier, remember?"

"We can discuss this later," Midnight snapped. She thought for a moment. This felt too easy. "Hey, how come there were so few guards?"

"Not much point in having more than a couple," Darkstalker responded. "They can hunt down anyone who escapes with the Obscura."

"Most of them also went to Pyrrhia with the Empress," Tiger pointed out. She stepped forward, relaxing as the sunlight hit her scales. "Which is where we need to go."

Ermine twitched his tail as he walked a wide berth around the dead RainWing. "But how are we going to get back to Pyrrhia?" he asked quietly. "We don't have any magic."

"Can I suggest something?" Ecru said. She let out a sigh. "I've been thinking about this since Midnight and I crossed over. This world is pretty similar to Pyrrhia, right? I remember hearing about a place on Pyrrhia that's supposedly where other worlds intersect our own. I don't know how true it is, and I think it'll be dangerous, but if there's nothing better, I think it's worth of a try."

Tiger's eyes suddenly went wide, and she stared over at Ecru. Her stripes started to take on a green hue. "The Mausoleum of Queen Frost."

"You've heard of it?" Ecru asked, surprised. "It's not common knowledge. How do you know?"

Tiger shook her head, like she didn't want to speak of the place. "I researched it when I was helping out Toxin and Queen Glory. Toxin went in there. She told me about it after getting back."

"She went there?" Ecru replied, shocked. "Like, inside? I'd considered visiting it when I was younger, but I learned it was a place of evil energies. I didn't want to . . . awaken anything I shouldn't. I'm still not sure it's a good idea, but if we have nothing else . . ."

Tiger nodded in agreement. She glanced over towards Midnight. "That's where Ink died," she whispered.

Midnight stared down at the RainWing dragonet, taking aback. "And that's where we're going?" she asked Ecru. "That's our best option?"

"I'm sorry," Ecru grimaced. "It's the only thing I can think of."

"It's not far from this island," Tiger added, looking down at the book in her paws. "It's in the Neck of Pyrrhia, so if it's in the same place here, it's only a short flight."

Midnight sighed, shaking her head. This felt like a bad idea. A really bad idea. "If it's our only option," she replied, clenching her talons. "Then Tiger, lead the way."

Chapter 37

Dawn rose as Aurora and Inferno finally started to descend. The blast of flame around Inferno's tail subsided, leaving smoking scales. The two had shone like a comet overhead, a fourth moon that night for the SkyWings and MudWings that had seen them pass. The Claws of the Clouds far beneath them, they began to fall through the air.

Inferno opened her eyes drowsily. Pain jolted through her tail, like her scales had been torn off. It had kept her awake that night, but it wasn't like she'd had anything to distract her from the pain except for the mountains below, whizzing by faster than she'd ever flown before. With the roar of the flame on her tail, there was no chance of Aurora hearing anything she said, not that she expected Aurora would be interested in conversation anyways.

As the mountains grew closer, Inferno felt Aurora move above her. Aurora's armor started to retract, until she broke free of Inferno. The hybrid spread out her wings, trying to slow her fall, and Inferno did the same. Moonlight reflected off a field of white snow, and Inferno tried to move herself towards that, already going too fast to fully stop in time.

Inferno crashed into the snow, barely breaking her fall as it melted and boiled around her. She enclosed her wings around herself, and after a tumble, ended up staring at the night sky, snow piled up everywhere she looked.

Aurora hit the snow after Inferno, the hybrid gliding down over Inferno's view for a second before a thwump shook the ground. Inferno raised her head, and tried to get up, but let out a sharp yelp as she tried to move her tail. She looked over towards it, to see her tail twisted in an unnatural fashion.

"The force of the blast probably broke it."

Inferno looked up to see Aurora standing over her, the occasional dim flash from her glowstripes lighting up the night. Aurora stepped into the hole in the snow surrounding Inferno, stepping over her. Inferno froze up, trying to not to move with Aurora so close, afraid she'd burn her.

Aurora bent her head down to inspect Inferno's tail, as Aurora's own spiked tail whizzed back and forth over Inferno's head. Inferno tilted her snout to the side, afraid that one of the spikes would hit her and catch on fire.

"Hold still," Aurora ordered, moving one of her paws to grab Inferno's tail.

"Don't touch it!" Inferno squealed. "You'll get hurt!"

Aurora raised her talons up, staring at them for a moment. Inferno saw the color shift from the usual white to a shining silver, the moons visible in her talons' reflection.

"I'll be fine," Aurora replied. "I reinforced them. They won't burn. I can make your tail feel better, but only if Ash doesn't try and attack me psychically again."

Inferno closed her eyes as she heard Ash in her head. "He says he won't," she said quickly to Aurora. "He promises. But are you sure you won't get burnt?"

"I can heal it if I do," Aurora said. She reached her claws down to Inferno's tail, grabbing ahold of it.

Inferno flinched as she felt strange talons on her sore tail, the base of her tail twitching to the side. Pain shot through it, and she gritted her teeth together.

Aurora sighed, exasperated. "I told you not to move."

"Sorry, sorry!" Inferno apologized. "It's just . . . I'm used to burning everyone who touches me. It's weird having someone who can."

"You won't burn me," Aurora assured her again. Aurora suddenly dug her talons into Inferno's tail. Inferno closed her eyes and tensed up as pain shot up her spine, digging her talons into her scales, trying not to move.

Then, the pain stopped. Inferno opened her eyes again as the sensation of Aurora's talons disappeared. Had Aurora healed it?

"Wow, it feels better already!" Inferno replied, astonished. She tried to move her tail, but didn't feel anything moving. She tried again, unsure what was going on.

"I told you not to move it," Aurora snapped back, growling. She tightened her grasp around Inferno's tail, wriggling in her talons. "Next time, I'm shackling it to the ground."

"Oh," Inferno gulped, immediately stopping. She winced. She hadn't burned Aurora, had she? "Sorry, I didn't feel it moving, so I was just . . ."

Aurora sighed. "Yes. I haven't actually healed your tail. I just gave you a local anesthetic in it. You won't feel pain in your tail anymore. Or much of anything."

"Oops," Inferno grimaced. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Aurora grumbled. "Just hold still. I'm going to fix the most critical components, so it will heal on its own after I'm finished."

Inferno rested her head, peeking around Aurora's tail every so often. With no sensation in her tail, she couldn't tell at all what Aurora was doing. She just had to trust her. Inferno frowned. This was the dragon who'd hurt Ink, who'd almost brought Jade Mountain down on top of them. Could Inferno really trust her?

You don't have much choice, Ash reminded Inferno. If she wanted to kill you, she could have done it easily by now.

I know, Inferno thought back.

Inferno looked up again. "I didn't realize you had a healing artifact," Inferno said quietly.

"I don't," Aurora responded. She raised her left forepaw, chainlinks jingling from the shackle on it. "Just this one."

"What does it do?" Inferno asked curiously, staring at the dangling links.

"The actual enchantment is more specific, but it lets me control and change matter," Aurora explained, placing her paw back down on Inferno's tail. "Animus magic is dangerous, especially for me, so Calamity said it was important to have something that lets me do a lot. This way, I have control over the process of healing, instead of some vague magic deciding how to do it for me."

"Like Polar's diamond," Inferno replied, thinking back to it.

"Yes," Aurora said. "Exactly like that."

"How do you know how to use it?" Inferno wondered. "Healing like that seems . . . difficult."

Aurora gave a confused glance back towards Inferno, wondering why she was asking her so much. Was Ash asking her to learn about Aurora in hopes of eventually using that knowledge against her. Aurora frowned. It was possible. But as long as Inferno and Ash were Aurora's allies, it might be useful for them to know what she could do.

"I was taught," Aurora replied. "My mother and her father were biologists, and Calamity has a store of knowledge far greater than any dragon on Pyrrhia."

"Oh," Inferno said uncomfortably. A hint of remorse showing through her voice. She remembered the battle against the two of them in the Crystal Caverns far too well, but until now, she hadn't really thought of them as . . . actual dragons. They'd had their own interests, their own family. "It must have taken a long time to learn how to do that."

"It did," Aurora stated. "Crystal and Calamity trained me for years on how to use it, since the day they helped me with the enchantment. It took my entire life."

"That sounds lonely," Inferno replied quietly. She started to understand Aurora. Her entire life had been spent with her parents, telling her what to do, preparing her to do their dirty work for them. She'd been isolated, not knowing anything of the world outside Crystal and Calamity. The only right and wrong she'd known of were what they'd told her. Could Inferno really blame Aurora for anything she'd done?

Aurora paused. Lonely? She shook her head. "No. I was never lonely, until I was forced to leave."

Inferno looked away, uncomfortably. The sun had started to rise in the sky, casting a firey glow across the mountains. Aurora having to leave had been her fault. She didn't regret what she'd done, but she couldn't help but feel guilty.

Inferno suddenly frowned, as she stared towards the south. "Hey," she spoke up. "I think I recognize that mountain. I've just always seen it from the other side before."

Aurora was silent, as she continued healing Inferno's tail.

"The Talons of Peace live just over that ridge!" Inferno pointed out. She let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. "It's where I grew up. I guess I've really come full circle. I wasn't sure I'd ever come back here." Inferno looked back over towards Aurora. "Hey, when you're done healing me, maybe I should give my mother a visit. Even if it's only been a few moon cycles, it's felt like I haven't seen her for forever. What do you think?"

Aurora paused. "I would visit my mother, too, if you hadn't helped kill her."

Inferno let out a sigh. She'd walked right into that one. She peeked her head under Aurora's legs, seeing the hybrid's claws still deep in Inferno's tail, even though she couldn't feel a thing. "You must really hate me. I guess I probably deserve it."

"My own emotions towards you are irrelevant."

Inferno tapped her claws on the ground, looking up as the sun rose. "You're not going to try and hurt her, are you?"

Aurora took her claws away from Inferno's tail, and gave Inferno a puzzled look. The hybrid's tail-spikes swished dangerously close to the SkyWing's neck. "Why would I do that?"

"Revenge?" Inferno suggested. "That seems like something an evil murderous dragon would do." She thought back to what Aurora had said to Ink at the Mausoleum. "Or even a not-evil one."

"Why would I do that?" Aurora frowned. She set down Inferno's tail, and carefully stepped off her, up onto the melting snow. "It doesn't seem very useful. Is there a good reason to kill your mother?"

"Probably someone has one," Inferno mused. "But please don't." She started to turn herself over, looking back at her tail. Even as it prodded against the ground, she couldn't feel a thing.

"Okay." Aurora followed Inferno's gaze, to the SkyWing's tail. "I healed it enough for now. I wouldn't recommend flying while it's still numb."

"That's alright. I've had enough flying for now. We can walk. I'll try not to burn down a forest." Inferno smiled. "Thank you for healing it."

Aurora didn't answer, and the two walked across the snow, melting under their paws. The Talons of Peace were on the other side of this ridge. Inferno's home.

---

Inferno took in a deep breath as she stepped into the clearing in front of the Talons' cave, trees hiding the entrance from above. She turned back to Aurora, and smiled. "Smells like home."

She turned back, and triumphantly walked towards the entrance, Aurora following behind her. She peered inside the entrance of the tunnels, twitching her tail. "It seems smaller than I remember it," Inferno commented. "Makes me feel like a dragonet again."

Aurora squinted, giving Inferno a confused look. "Didn't you say you were gone only a few moon-cycles? And you're fully grown."

"I was being metaphorical," Inferno laughed. "I know I haven't actually gotten larger."

Aurora shook her head in disapproval as the two entered the tunnels. The light grew dim, and the sound of dragons echoed throughout. Inferno squished up against the side of a tunnel as she heard a dragon approach, careful to make sure she didn't catch anyone by surprise.

A SkyWing walked around the corner, feeling a wave of heat as he approached Inferno. He gave her a concerned stare, and she smiled and waved her paw in response. He gave an uncomfortable wave back, before walking past Inferno and Aurora.

More dragons turned and stared as the tunnel grew. Inferno slowly stepped through the crowd, offering an "excuse me" or "coming through" as a warning to any dragon who she passed, just to make sure they didn't accidentally step closer to her and accidentally touch her.

Aurora couldn't help but glance around as the two walked through the tunnels. It felt like there were just as many eyes on the strange hybrid as there were on the fireborn. She didn't like this. She was no strange to tunnels, but Aurora hated having so many dragons all cramped into one.

"Inferno, you're back?" a surprised SandWing said, staring at her for a moment before her eyes turned to Aurora.

"Yep!" Inferno replied. "For now, at least. Hey, do you know if Clarity's here?" She turned back to Aurora. "She's your aunt, right?"

"Not at the moment," the SandWing cautiously answered. "Sorry." She quickly scooted away, pushing herself against the wall to stay as far away from Inferno as possible.

"Oh well," Inferno tsked. "I'm sure she would've been happy to see you."

Aurora squinted. "Was that sarcasm?"

Inferno shrugged her wings, and slowly turned another corner. She let out an audible groan as she saw the MudWing standing in the corridor. "Oh no," she winced. "Aurora, look down, and don't make eye contact."

Aurora gave Inferno a funny look, but did as she asked. The two slowly walked past the MudWing, Inferno trying as hard as she could not to garner his attention. Just when she'd walked past him, and she'd thought they were free, he turned, and Inferno heard his voice from behind her.

"Inferno!" Ochre greeted her. "My beloved princess! You've returned for me!"

Inferno groaned. "No, I haven't," she grumbled.

Ochre stepped closer to Inferno, forcing the SkyWing to scooch up against the cavern wall to avoid touching him. Not that she would burn him (or really cared about that at this point). He raised his head, and Inferno noticed that he'd placed his claws against her tail without her feeling it.

"Why do you scorn me?" Ochre asked. "I've never been anything but kind to you!"

"Please go away," Inferno sighed, trying to creep along the wall, as Ochre kept following her. She pulled her tail inwards, baring her fangs slightly. "I'm pretty sure I'm a lesbian anyways, and even if I wasn't, I wouldn't be interested in you."

Ochre looked back towards Aurora, whose head was still down like Inferno had instructed, then back towards Inferno. "You're in love with a female mongrel?" he squealed angrily. "That's so stupid! She can't even touch you! I can touch you!"

"Actually, can touch me," Inferno replied. She paused a moment, before suddenly realizing what Ochre had implied. "Wait, no, we're not in love! She's not my mate! Just a friend." She glanced back at a confused Aurora. "Actually, we're not even friends, more like rivals who are banded against a common enemy!"

"I take interest in you because your shell houses my adoptive father's deceased brother-in-law," Aurora corrected Inferno.

"Yes, that," Inferno replied. She glared at Ochre. "I'm leaving now."

Inferno turned, walking along the tunnel. She stretched her wing out as Ochre tried to follow, and he let out a cough as he breathed in the smoke surrounding her.

"You're so mean!" Ochre cried. "No one will ever love you that way!" He took another step forward, and let out a yelp as he tripped, falling face first on the ground. "My snout!" he wailed. He tried to move his talons up to feel the damage, but found that he couldn't move them, as stone rings had shackled his paws to the ground. "Help!"

"Serves you right!" Inferno yelled back as she turned a corner, and Ochre fell out of her sight.

Aurora stepped past Ochre without another look back at him, following Inferno. As they got far enough away from him, Inferno let out a giggle.

"I hate him so much!" Inferno laughed. "I've always wanted to do something like that." She smiled. "I know I don't deserve it, but thank you. Again."

"He grabbed your tail," Aurora muttered. "Right after I'd healed it. Also, he was annoying."

"I know!" Inferno grinned. Her smile suddenly faded. "Er, he'll be able to get out of there eventually . . . right?"

Aurora considered it for a second. "Yeah. He can cut off his own paws."

Inferno stared at Aurora, a mild look of horror coming over her. "T-that's horrible."

Aurora tilted her head, then shook it back and forth. "No. I'm making a joke. If they dug these tunnels; they'll have something to cut stone away here. Was it funny?"

Inferno let out a sigh of relief, relaxing. "Yeah, you're right. You scared me for a second there."

"I could get rid of his paws if you needed me to," Aurora pointed out.

"Please don't," Inferno gulped. "No taking off limbs. C'mon, I should say hi to my mother."

"Alright," Aurora replied, following Inferno as they descended further into the tunnel system.

Inferno closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she stepped up to the small entrance to her and her mother's old cave. What would her mother think about her coming back? She hadn't been particularly emotional about Inferno leaving the first time. Would she even be happy to see her?

Inferno peeked her head into the cave, slowly checking where her mother was. Goat was resting on the floor, twiddling her talons with a bored look on her face. As she felt Inferno's warm presence enter the room, the SkyWing raised her head to look up at her dragonet.

"Hi, mother," Inferno greeted her, trying to force a smile. She glanced around the room. It was much the same as she'd left it, except for a few unusual belongings on Inferno's shelf of rock.

"Oh," Goat replied, raising her head. "You're back."

"Yeah," Inferno said. It was like her mother hadn't even noticed she'd been gone.

Goat glanced over to Inferno's rock bed. "You can't sleep here, if that's what you want. Coyote is sleeping here now. He wouldn't appreciate living in the same room as you. I wouldn't either. I enjoy the privacy."

"I know," Inferno sighed. "That's alright. I wasn't planning on staying. I think I'm going to go back to Jade Mountain after this, to enroll there if they'll still let me."

"Did you do something there?" Goat frowned. "I've heard stories. How Peril is killing IceWings near it."

Inferno shook her head. "It's all fine. I'm sure if I told you, you'd get bored."

"Probably," Goat replied. "Go have fun."

"Thanks," Inferno said.

Goat gave Inferno a impatient look, and didn't make a response. Inferno opened her mouth, trying to think of something else to say, but wasn't quite sure. What else was there for her to say?

Knowing the conversation was over, Inferno promptly turned around, walking back out of her old room, past Aurora. She kept her head down as she started back out of the tunnels again.

"Was that it?" Aurora asked Inferno, surprised that the reunion had been so short.

"Yeah," Inferno replied. She glanced back to the room, her mother already gone from her sight. "That was it. I was hoping for a bit more, but it wasn't like I was expecting hugs or anything." She chuckled at her own joke.

"Is she not talkative?" Aurora queried.

Inferno shook her head. "She's plenty talkative. Just not around me." She glanced back at Aurora with a grin. "No matter! Onto Jade Mountain, right?"

Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in front of Inferno. Inferno turned her head around as a small furry creature crossed her path, and the fireborn jumped back in alarm, about to run into it. Aurora let out a sharp yowl as she felt Inferno's numb tail brush one of her front legs, blue scales burning as she pulled them back away from the SkyWing.

"THREEMOONSIMSOSORRY," Inferno squealed, staring back at Aurora's wounds. "Are you alright? Please be alright. Do you need anything?"

Aurora took a step back, and placed a paw over the scorched scales. "It's not a concern," she said. "It surprised me." She took her paw away, the burn already mostly healed.

Inferno winced, placing her claws over her snout. "It still hurt though, didn't it? I'm so so sorry. I haven't been on guard around you, and I let you get too close, and now—"

"It's not a concern," Aurora interrupted again, slightly exasperated. "It's a minor burn. I've experienced far worse." She looked down at Inferno's tail. "It's my fault your tail is numb anyways. Why did you jump back?"

"Oh," Inferno said, heart racing, breath shallow. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. It was alright. She hadn't hurt anyone. She pointed a talon up the tunnel. "Look!"

Aurora followed Inferno's gaze, landing on a small furry animal. "A cat. How magnificent."

"Not just any cat," Inferno pointed out. "His name is Sapphire. He's Trustbreaker's cat, meaning that he must be here. We should go say hello!" Inferno's smile suddenly faded to a frown. "Huh."

"What is it?" Aurora asked. She peered around Inferno. The elderly tabby was slowly walking away from them, like he was trying to guide them to somewhere.

"It's Ash," Inferno said quietly. "He's talking to me. He says that he knows Trustbreaker, and that apparently he's involved in this whole mess, with Ash and that RainWing." She clenched up her claws. "I don't like Trustbreaker being at the center of all this. I trusted him more than anyone else here."

"Really," Aurora replied, giving Inferno a look of skepticism.

The SkyWing smiled. "I know. Trustbreaker. It's ironic, isn't it? I feel like I should've expected this."

Aurora remained quiet, not having anything more to say.

Inferno turned around, tucking her tail in close to her. "C'mon. Let's follow Sapphire before he gets away. I want to hear what Trustbreaker has to say."

Inferno and Aurora walked after Sapphire. It wasn't very hard to keep up. The cat was slow enough that Inferno could follow him at her desired pace: slow enough everyone had ample warning before she got close to them. Dragons pulled themselves against the walls and tucked in their wings and tails as she passed, giving her wary glances.

Finally, Sapphire reached his desired destination — another small room, dug out with the rest of the complex. The cat trotted in, before climbing into a dragon's black paw. Trustbreaker raised Sapphire to his head, letting the cat climb between his horns, staring down at Aurora and Inferno as they entered.

"It's a pleasant surprise to see you again, Inferno," Trustbreaker smiled, sitting back on his haunches. "I'd been worried about what happened to you after Toxin told me at the funeral. I'm glad to see you're okay."

"A funeral?" Inferno asked. She closed her eyes as she guessed who it was for. "For Polar, Ink, and Fracture."

"And one more," Trustbreaker said warily, his eyes on Aurora as she walked into his line-of-sight. He frowned. "You're Torrent and Crystal's dragonet, aren't you? Inferno, what is she doing here?"

"I'm getting answers," Aurora snapped, answering for herself. "We don't have time or patience for introductions." Aurora dug her claws into the ground, and a spike of stone suddenly shot up from the ground beneath Trustbreaker's head, stopping just a few claw-widths from his neck. "Tell us what you know about Ash."

Trustbreaker tensed up, and Sapphire crept back along his head, hissing his claws extended against Trustbreaker's scales. "Ash?" Trustbreaker asked, taken aback.

"Aurora!" Inferno scolded. "Don't threaten him!" She turned towards Trustbreaker as Aurora retracted the spike. "She's right though. I think you've been . . . keeping stuff hidden from me. Did you know about Ash the whole time, and that he isn't my brother?"

Trustbreaker looked down at the floor, averting his eyes from Inferno's gaze. His talons tapped uncomfortably on the ground, and he shuffled his wings. He let out a long sigh, as Aurora impatiently swished her tail back and forth.

"I suspected it was him," Trustbreaker finally answered. "Even if I can't read dragons' minds, I knew there was something strange. Although I suppose Ash isn't really much of a dragon anymore, is he?"

"Not much of a dragon?" Inferno asked. Is he talking about you being dead? Are you dead?

Somewhat, Ash responded. Death was a way around the rules surrounding animus soul loss.

You're an animus? Inferno wondered.

Not anymore.

Trustbreaker shook his head, drawing Inferno's attention back outside her body, away from Ash. "I'm so, so, sorry," the NightWing whispered. "This is all my fault. I'd been pretending that nothing had happened, and you've had to suffer the consequences. I don't think there's anything I can do to repay you."

"Does this have to do with the alternate reality you came from?" Inferno asked. "Fracture told me about it."

Aurora snorted as she heard the name Fracture. "Of course that's what he told you."

Inferno looked over at Aurora. Was she implied that Fracture was lying? "That's what you and Ash were talking about though, right? You said something about iterations, and how he was from another one."

"Yes," Trustbreaker answered. "Ash is from another iteration. Another world. The same one I'm from. Antigonia. That's what it was called when I left it."

Inferno closed her eyes, as she heard Ash speak to her again. "Ash wanted to tell you something," she said to Trustbreaker. "He says . . . Liliana has come to Pyrrhia."

Something seemed to change in Trustbreaker's expression, like his blood had become as frozen as an IceWing. He took a step back, eyes wide with fear. Sapphire's whiskers flattened back. Trustbreaker closed his eyes, a lump forming in the NightWing's throat. "If she is here, then all of Pyrrhia is in grave danger."

"Is Liliana the RainWing with the crown and lightning powers?" Aurora asked Inferno. She turned to Trustbreaker. "If she is, then she attacked the Sky Kingdom with an army of RainWings. She captured Queen Scarlet, and destroyed the palace. I couldn't even do that without the Eye of Amethyst."

"Sort of," Trustbreaker responded. "She's only sort of a RainWing. One of the powers she gained was shapeshifting. When I had last met her, she changed relatively frequently between that and her original scavenger form."

"A scavenger form?" Inferno chortled. She raised her claws to about the height of her knees from the ground. "You mean one of those little things? The ones that wave around pointy metal sticks and squeak at you?" She giggled and looked over at Aurora. The hybrid's expression hadn't changed, and apparently didn't find this as funny as Inferno did.

"Tell us everything," Aurora ordered Trustbreaker. "I know the story up to Ash's betrayal of Calamity. I need to fill in the gaps. Who is this Liliana, and why did she attack the SkyWings?"

"Ash's betrayal?" Trustbreaker asked, somewhat confused. He looked over to Inferno, like he was gazing directly into her, trying to see Ash. He let out a sigh. "Alright. Inferno deserves an explanation, at least. Of how I came to this world, and how, I believe," he frowned at this, "how Ash came to you."

Inferno stared curiously at Trustbreaker, and felt Ash's presence shrink away. Was she finally going to get answers to this? What Ash was? And in some sense, who she was?

"The world I came from, Antigonia, used to be just like this one," Trustbreaker explained, "but with one major exception. There was no animus magic on that world — as I later learned, the last animus had cast a curse over the entire continent, causing it to disappear at the end of the Scorching. It meant that unlike in this world, there was never a Darkstalker, and NightWings still lived in our original kingdom, not on the volcano. Imagine my surprise when I went to the old NightWing city here, and found only ruins. But most importantly, it meant that the NightWings in my world still had our mind-reading and future-telling powers, since we still hatched under the moonlight.

"I hatched under a single full moon, and was given the name Duskwind by the Night Kingdom's eldest prophet. I gained the power to read minds, but as I grew, my powers started to wane. After a few years, I was unable to read dragons' minds at all any longer. But I could still read the minds of animals." Trustbreaker raised a paw, and Sapphire leaped down onto it, turning around in a circle before jumping back up on the NightWing's head. "Something like that is not uncommon, but I doubt it's been discovered in this continent so far. Prophets who plan desperately for the future as dragonets find themselves able to a myriad of futures, and prophets who only think about the long-term can see decades and even centuries ahead. Mind-readers who want to know how things came to be are only able to see memories. I never found myself at home among other dragons, and so my powers changed until dragons' minds were no longer open to me.

"However, that allowed me to discover things that no one else had. After coming across a settlement and glimpsing into their thoughts, I learned that scavengers are far more like dragons than other animals, with a structured language of their own. Just like here, most dragons saw scavengers as nothing more than a potential food source and annoyance, but I knew better. Eventually, I ended up rescuing a scavenger named Liliana from SandWings who tried to eat her. I was poisoned in the fight against them, and would've died. However, Liliana stayed by my side, and knew how to cure SandWing poison. She nursed me back to health, and as I read her thoughts, I discovered something new — if I tried, I could communicate with her, just with my thoughts.

"I decided to stay with her, not seeing any reason to return to the Night Kingdom. We used my mind-reading to teach each other our languages, until we could speak to each other. We became the best of friends, and then mates. But Liliana had ambition. She wanted to make a world where dragons and scavengers could live together in peace. I agreed, and went along with her. I went behind my queen's tail and learned from secret NightWing scrolls about an ancient animus artifact called the Wishstone, something that could make it's user's dreams reality, something that could do anything. Liliana realized that this was the solution to our problems, and with it, we could create the world she desired.

"We sought the Wishstone for years, travelling to the far corners of our continent and beyond. We almost lost our lives numerous times. But we found it, protected by a secret cult of dragons who'd sworn their lives to keep anyone from using it. We managed to trick them, and Liliana took the Wishstone. With no way to escape, she used it.

"But things went horribly wrong. Liliana had been unsure what world she'd wanted herself, or how to create it. The Wishstone mangled our Pyrrhia into a world of endless chaos, where space and time had no meaning. The two of us tried to fix it with the Wishstone, again and again attempting to recreate the world we'd once had, ripping apart and putting back together our mistakes. We weren't even sure what our world had been, and couldn't fully agree on what world we wanted to go to. After what might have been an eternity, or the blink of an eye, we managed to get some semblance of order, something livable. We settled on an imperfect world called Antigonia, an unstable continent plagued by earthquakes, volcanos, and storms as large as the Sand Kingdom. Miraculously, we'd somehow succeeded: scavengers and dragons were united together on this world.

"But the peace was artificial, and it didn't last long. The world turned into competing factions of dragons and scavengers, a war on the scale of the Scorching but with no clear sides, losers, or victors. Liliana figured out a solution: she kept using the Wishstone, but now only at a smaller scale. She tried to figure out ways to keep the peace, and eventually ended up declaring herself Empress of Antigonia, crushing all who fought against her. She created a strict society where she could watch everyone at all times, using that fear to punish dragons and scavengers who stepped out of line.

"She began to use the Wishstone more and more, for larger and larger things. I became disillusioned with the empire she'd created, seeing how unhappy and constantly afraid everyone was. Eventually, I stole the Wishstone from her, but was afraid to use it myself for fear of destroying Antigonia. Empress Liliana declared me as Trustbreaker. I led a great rebellion against her, but we were defeated by her loyal army, and the many powers she'd given herself with the Wishstone. After that, I lost hope. Ash explained to me that there was another world out there, somewhere I could start anew, and keep the Wishstone safe from Liliana. I fled, and Ash took me to this world, before disappearing himself, presumably managing to survive on his own for years, until he found you."

Trustbreaker let out a sigh, his tale finished. He looked over towards Aurora. "Is that sufficient?"

"Yes," Aurora answered, like none of this was at all surprising to her. "That is sufficient."

"Thank you for telling me," Inferno said sympathetically, trying to take in all that he'd said. In that case . . . what was Ash? "I didn't know any of this about you. It sounds like you went through a lot."

"Yes, quite a wonderful story," a fourth voice said.

The three's heads whipped around to see Empress Liliana up against the cavern wall, smiling as she slowly clapped her front paws together.

Immediately, Aurora ground her talons into the floor, and spikes shot out of the stone behind Liliana, piercing through the RainWing's scales in a thousand places. She moved her claws again, and more spikes shot out from the other cavern walls, stabbing her again. Aurora created a film on the spikes' ends, causing the spikes to instantly ignite as it touched the air. Inferno turned her head away, bright flames and smoke blocking her view.

"Not really the welcoming I was looking for, but thank you nonetheless," Liliana snorted.

The smoke cleared, revealing that the spikes and fire had done nothing but harmlessly pass through the RainWing's body. Aurora took a cautious step back. Was she phasing?

"Just a projection," the Empress smiled, answering Aurora's question. She waved her claws, passing through the spikes. Aurora retracted them back into the wall. It didn't seem like they'd be much use.

"What do you want?" Aurora growled warily.

Empress Liliana shook her head. "Nothing, yet. I just wanted to announce my presence and see what was going on. But I have to thank you both — you've led me right to the dragon I wanted to see." She waved her paw, and her figure started to disappear, the stone wall becoming visible behind her. "I'll see you all soon."

The three were silent, all staring at the place where Liliana's projection had been. Aurora stilled her talons, hiding her fear. Now, she knew what she was up against.

"How soon?" Inferno asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Right on cue, the cavern began to shake. Aurora spread her paws out to keep herself stable. She saw Sapphire extend his claws into Trustbreaker's scales, hissing as he kept himself from falling off him.

"We're under attack!" a voice sounded from the outside of the cavern. Riptide peeked his head in, frantic as he was shook up and down. "An army of RainWings! Get out of the caverns!"

Aurora looked up at the ceiling, as more dust fell. The Empress was trying to draw them out.

"I need to stop this before anyone else gets hurt," Trustbreaker winced. "This is my fault. Aurora, can you take me to the surface?"

Inferno looked over at the NightWing. "You can't!" she protested. "She'll kill you!"

Trustbreaker shook his head, and Sapphire let out a hiss as a rock landed on Trustbreaker's back. "I need to stop her. I won't let her touch you."

Aurora turned to Trustbreaker, and nodded in understanding. She stretched out her claws, offering them to the NightWing. "Hold on."

"WAIT!" Inferno squealed, taking a step towards Trustbreaker and Aurora. She tried to push Trustbreaker away from Aurora, before remembering what would happen if she touched him. Instead, she stood frozen as she stared at the two. "Don't go!"

"I'm so sorry for everything," Trustbreaker said grimly, grasping ahold of Aurora's talons. Sapphire tightened his grip on the NightWing's head. "I never meant for you to get involved in this."

Inferno could do nothing but watch as Aurora pulled Trustbreaker towards the wall, stepping into it as she phased both him and Sapphire through it. The world went dark, and they rose up towards the surface, as the caverns rumbled around them.

It felt like an eternity before the darkness faded, and light once again hit Trustbreaker's eyes. He stepped out of the mountainside a few dragon-lengths from the entrance to the cavern, Aurora walking out beside him. A cold wind brushed past the two, and the shaking in the ground stopped.

Trustbreaker turned. A small group of dragons was funnelling out of the caverns, in too much of a hurry to have noticed the two phasing. As they looked up to the sky, a dark cloud covered the mountainside. RainWings filled the sky, their wings blotting out the sun. Trustbreaker closed his eyes, and let out a sigh as he saw a single dragon leaving the swarm. A violet RainWing with a golden crown on her head descended to the clearing in front of the mountain.

"I have to end this," Trustbreaker said to Aurora, as the RainWing beckoned him forward with a paw. He turned, and gave Aurora a smile. "Don't interfere, but keep Inferno away from her."

"Alright," Aurora replied. She frowned, as she saw him move his claws to his head, picking Sapphire up from it. He offered the cat out to her, the tabby's eyes staring up into her own. Aurora hesitantly extended her talons, grabbing Sapphire by the back of his neck, not quite sure how to hold a cat.

"Thank you," Trustbreaker said, almost relieved. "Keep him and Inferno safe. I have hope for you. Don't repeat your parents' mistakes. Follow your heart."

Aurora remained silent as Trustbreaker turned away from her, watching as the NightWing walked towards the Empress. She frowned.

As Trustbreaker approached the Empress, a blinding golden light showered Liliana. The shadow of her form started to change, her wings and tail retracting into her body, as it shrunk. Scales smoothed out to skin, and she raised her front legs until she was standing on two. The other Talons whispered as she transformed.

The light faded, leaving Empress Liliana in her scavenger form. The golden crown of leaves and vines had shrunk, and now sat atop black hair. Violet robes flowed around her. She looked up at Trustbreaker, the NightWing now towering over three times her height.

"Long time no see," she smiled, speaking in perfect Dragon, "Duskwind."

Chapter 38

Deathbringer raised his head as a droplet of water fell on his snout, twisting along his scales, leaving behind a wet trail before it dripped off him. He blinked as another droplet fell into his eye. The last glimpse of sun disappeared behind dark clouds as he flew westwards. He looked forward. Clouds as black as night swirled around ahead, pierced by the twin peaks of Jade Mountain. Its slopes were obscured by lesser peaks in front of them, craggly and jagged under the shadow of the storm.

Deathbringer looked down at the enchanted scroll again, as dark blotches of water spread out on its surface. The arrow still pointed forward. Queen Blackice's troops were between them and the safety of Jade Mountain, waiting between the slopes, just out of view.

More rain started to pour from the sky, beating down on the wings of the dragons Deathbringer led as they got closer and closer to the mountain. Much more, and they'd be forced to land. Deathbringer clutched the scroll, trying to keep it dry. Hopefully, it had been made well.

"This is it," Jambu said quietly, Deathbringer barely able to hear the RainWing prince as he floated up next to him. "Jade Mountain."

Deathbringer nodded as he glanced over towards the RainWing. The pink on his scales had faded, leaving behind only a nervous green. Deathbringer didn't blame him. He was afraid, too. They were outnumbered and untrained. And while they were just trying to survive, the enemy wanted them dead. Deathbringer doubted there was little Queen Blackice wouldn't do.

"Jambu," Deathbringer said, his voice shaky, "if I die here, I want you to take care of Firefly for me."

Jambu shook his head. "Don't think that way," he replied, forcing a grin as he tried to remain optimistic. "You'll get out of this alive. We all will."

Deathbringer smiled. He knew that wasn't true. Healing scroll or not, he wouldn't be able to save everyone, not this time. "I sure hope so," he sighed. He stared out at Jade Mountain as rain pattered down, remembering what Hemlock had said to him. "But if this was really caused by my and my mother's meddling during the War of SandWing Succession, it would only be fitting if this was where I met my end."

"Don't think that way," Jambu said, concerned.

Deathbringer turned back to the dragons behind him. NightWings and RainWings alike flew through the rain, towards Jade Mountain. Deathbringer lowered his wings, and flew down in a tight circle around the front of the group, motioning for them to stop. Flying in place in front of them, water dripped from his horns.

"Blackice's armies are ahead! Prepare for battle!" he shouted. "Any dragon who can fight, continue on forward with me! Dragons who cannot, stay on the ground below! Dart-gunners stay low and shoot from beneath, while claw-to-claw fighters protect them from above and the front, like a wall!" He paused. "This will be the final battle! If we make it through this, and get everyone to Jade Mountain, we're safe!" He didn't need to say what would happen if they lost. They already knew. "Now! Forward!"

Jambu flew by Deathbringer's side as they moved forward, winds pushing them along. Deathbringer stared as many of the dragons split off from the group, gliding down towards the ground. That left around two-hundred in total, including the NightWings and RainWings he'd trained, the SandWings from Six-Claws, and the RainWings who Jambu had brought. A sizable number, but it wouldn't be enough. Hopefully, his allies were ready.

For a moment, the world was still. The winds seemed to pause, and even the rain grew to the quiet sound of a stream. Jade Mountain loomed over them in the distance, clouds swirling around, snow dotting its peak. The Winding Tail River snaked through the mountains to Deathbringer's right, and emptied out into the ocean to its west, mist rising up its surface.

Then, the ground started to rumble. The roars of dragons started to pierce the rain, and white wings and scales rose up from the slopes of Jade Mountain. Deathbringer could only stare in horror as IceWings filled the skies, like two wings wrapping around Deathbringer's troops. One thousand dragons. Queen Blackice had really brought all her troops to this battle, just like Deathbringer had expected.

This was it. If they won, Blackice was defeated. If they lost, they were all dead. Deathbringer stretched out a single talon as the IceWings began to pour over the mountain-ridges like a flood of snow. Deathbringer squinted. He could spot a few dragons with black paint in the crowd, but none of them looked like Blackice herself. Where was she?

"Hold your position!" Deathbringer yelled out as he circled in front of the dragons. "Dart-gunners, get ready to shoot!"

He paused, as he glided behind the front line, readying the healing scroll. Again, he was hiding in the shadows while other dragons fought for him. He looked beyond the dragons in the front. The IceWings were pouring over them, like the crest of a wave about to wait. He stared for a few moments, almost lost in the mesmerizing flow, before finally giving his orders.

"FIRE!" he yelled. Darts flew up behind him, right before the wave of IceWings crashed.

IceWings turned in surprise as they felt themselves pricked. Deathbringer smiled as chaos started to ensue among his enemies' front ranks. A layer of IceWings peeled off, struggling to keep aloft as sleep overtook them, and they fell towards the river. The IceWings behind them momentarily stopped, crashing into each other and the falling IceWings. Queen Blackice hadn't been expecting that.

A roar sounded out from the back of the army. One of the Black Princes had come forward, leading more of the forces forward, trying to draw them out of their confusion.

"Reload your darts!" Deathbringer ordered out, flying back and forth above the RainWings. He looked towards the Black Prince. There were only moments before the armies clashed. "Fire!"

More darts shot out, hitting the approaching IceWings. Enough to slow them down, as more fell from the sky, but not enough to stop them. A roar to battle sounded out as the IceWing army struck through their fallen compatriots, pushing them aside as a tendril of dragons struck out at Deathbringer's front line.

Finally, they clashed. Within moments, the air was filled with the roars and cries of dragons. Red and blue blood spilled as dragons tackled each other mid-flight. Rain poured down, fogging up the air until Deathbringer couldn't see anything but the shadows of dragons, with the occasional blast of firebreath lighting up the fog like a lantern. He pulled out the drenched scroll, saying the words to activate healing as he tried to find injured NightWings or RainWings, but in this weather, it was hard to tell the difference between his allies and enemies.

An IceWing shot out from the mist, blasting frostbreath across two of the RainWing dart-gunners, their scales turning as white as the IceWing's as they yelled out. Almost immediately, one of the other RainWings shot a sleeping dart, hitting the IceWing square in the neck before he could do any more damage.

"Keep calm!" Deathbringer yelled, healing the two RainWings. "Don't let them get to you!"

Another volley of darts flew as more IceWings started to break through the front ranks. He saw a young IceWing grab onto one of the RainWings, tearing at the RainWing's throat with her teeth. The RainWing's scales suddenly went invisible, throwing off the IceWing. The IceWing suddenly let out a piercing scream, as venom hit her neck, melting into her throat.

Deathbringer did nothing but stare as the IceWing died, plummeting to the ground. His claws shook as the scroll rested in them. He could've saved her, but he didn't. She was an enemy, but Deathbringer couldn't help but feel guilty. Had she joined Blackice's army willingly, or had she been forced into service? He shook his head, trying to cast off those thoughts.

More IceWings started to come back into the fight, the dart-gunners starting to move their attention back from the front lines. IceWings started to engage with RainWings untrained in combat. Deathbringer could heal as many RainWings as he had time for, but it wouldn't be enough. And now, he couldn't heal his front lines.

Deathbringer gritted his teeth as he dove to the side, an IceWing flying past the RainWings, coming after him. He shot out a blast of fire as the IceWing turned, barely singing the dragon's scales. The IceWing dove down, and grabbed ahold of Deathbringer's wings, tearing at him with serrated claws. The smell of blood washed down Deathbringer's snout. Deathbringer tried to bite back, keeping the scroll tucked away, but the IceWing reared back, escaping his jaws. Every moment that he wasted in this fight was a moment when dragons that he should have been healing were dying.

Suddenly, the IceWing's movements became sluggish, and he dropped towards the ground as he backed away from Deathbringer. Deathbringer glanced to the side, seeing Jambu wave a paw at him, dart-gun in his talons.

"Thanks!" Deathbringer called out, relieved. He turned back, seeing blood dripping from more of the RainWings, scales as white as their enemies. He located the most serious injuries first, wincing as he saw dragons half-covered with frostbreath, or with their guts or bellies ripped open. Had these dragons known that this was what war would be like? When Glory had let the NightWings into the rainforest, had she known that they'd be bringing the Ice Kingdom's wrath upon the RainWings?

Even as the battle got bleaker, Deathbringer's army could do nothing but keep fighting. Dragons started to fall too fast for Deathbringer to save them. With their enemies only a tail-length away, the dart-guns had become useless. Battle cries had turned to screams, and the stench of death rose throughout the battlefield.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed through the sky, and the clouds lit up. Lightning hit from above, dragons yelling as it hit directly in the midst of Blackice's army. Smaller bolts shot off from it, travelling between IceWings, and thunder crackled through the air. Deathbringer stared as the clouds started to swirl, IceWings thrown back and forth, crashing into their own allies. Another bolt of lightning struck, and on the other side of Queen Blackice's troops, a battle roar sounded.

"For Prince Hailstorm!" IceWings painted in all the colors of the rainbow suddenly shot out from behind Jade Mountain. The new dragons flew down, wings spread wide open as they attacked the back of Blackice's army from the mountainside. At their front, a shining sliver IceWing swooped down, frostbreath glittering as the IceWings he led pierced through the enemy forces like an arrow.

"He made it!" Jambu shouted excitedly.

Deathbringer nodded, grinning as Prince Hailstorm and Hemlock led colorful IceWings straight through the battlefield, creating a hole in the center of Blackice's swarm as their formation fell apart. He heard a yell of orders out from one of the Black Princes, trying to move the IceWings attacking the RainWings and NightWings back, RainWing dart-gunners shooting at them as they attempted to maneuver. The winds seemed to fight Blackice's every move, scattering her IceWings across the battlefield in a whirlwind as Hailstorm's IceWings were pushed by the winds behind them.

"Not just them," Deathbringer pointed out to Jambu, gesturing across the battlefield. "Look!"

Not far from Hailstorm and Hemlock's forces, more NightWings and RainWings flew around the mountain, heading straight into battle. Princess Greatness let out a roar as her dragons joined Hailstorm's. Together, the newcomers spread out, fighting through and around the crowd of Blackice's IceWings, forcing them into small separated clusters as the wind swirled around them, crashing them into each other.

"Fire at the IceWings without paint!" Deathbringer ordered at the RainWings. Darts shot off, and IceWings fell to the ground as they were hit.

The piercing dagger of the newcomers shot through Blackice's troops. Jambu waved happily as he saw Hailstorm and Hemlock flying towards the two, Blackice's dragons fleeing out of their path as they careened through the battlefield.

"Sorry we were late!" Hailstorm called out as the RainWings flew aside to let them through. Hailstorm and Hemlock soared through the gap, quickly closing off. "It took a while to gather them all and get them here."

Deathbringer shook his head, smiling. "No, you were just on time. This way, they're scattered." He looked over at the battlefield, using the scroll to heal a couple of the injured IceWings on his side.

"You're still outnumbered," Hemlock commented warily. With the new forces, the dragons on their side had almost tripled, but they still had barely over half the number of dragons Queen Blackice had. "We have the upper claw now from position alone, but victory is far from assured."

Hailstorm nodded in agreement. "It'll be close, and I'm still not sure what Blackice has planned. So far, it doesn't look she's made an appearance."

"There's at least one Black Prince on the battlefield, and we captured one yesterday," Deathbringer explained. "And she wouldn't be in the air, would she? She can't fly." Deathbringer felt a small tremor in his heart as the roar of battle clashed in front of him. If Glory had managed to kill Blackice, and had survived, none of this would've happened.

"She has magic," Hailstorm warned him. "I don't even know what she can do."

Jambu poked his head into the conversation. "Hey, speaking of magic, how did you do the lightning thing?"

"It wasn't him," Hemlock laughed. "I just followed Deathbringer's advice. I managed to convince a few of the dragons at Jade Mountain to help you out. I have to admit, it didn't take much."

Jambu looked out towards the battle, when another bolt of lightning struck, a thunderclap piercing the air as the lightning passed through some of Blackice's IceWings. The sizzle of burning flesh filled the air. He squinted as two dragons flew through the aftermath, a pink and blue SeaWing trailing behind a bright orange SkyWing, smoke wreathed around her scales. Peril let out a roar as she flew through the dragons, not even having to do raise her claws as enemy soldiers fled left and right to get out of her way. Anemone raised her front claws, and the storm intensified, winds throwing dragons into one another.

The animus and the fireborn flew through the battlefield, RainWings, NightWings, IceWings, and even a few SandWings following their lead, Deathbringer's forces attacking the dragons left behind them. Queen Blackice's army began to dwindle, as more of her IceWings were shot with sleeping darts, the mountainside below littered with whites. Deathbringer quickly returned back to healing, checking back on Anemone every so often, but for a moment, they seemed victorious. It wasn't long before Queen Blackice's numbers had been reduced beneath their own.

A flash of black paint caught Deathbringer's eye. He'd finally caught a glimpse of the Black Prince again through the rain, a few IceWings surrounding him like a guard as he flew towards the edge of the battlefield. Deathbringer smiled, and pointed Jambu towards him.

"He's retreating!" Jambu said happily, as more IceWings followed, heading towards the north of the battlefield. "We won!"

Deathbringer stared at the Black Prince for a few moments longer, trying to catch a hint of distress on the IceWing's face. He frowned. Something strange seemed to be happening. One of the IceWings behind the Black Prince had brought something forward, and had given it to him. Deathbringer squinted. Water and paint dripped from the Black Prince's wings onto a silver surface. He raised it up high, a glittering silver snowflake like a shield. Lightning struck the river, and the multifaceted sheen on the snowflake shield seemed to glimmer.

Deathbringer's scales seemed to tense up involuntarily, as the air seemed to instantly drop in temperature. A chilled wind blew past Deathbringer, pushing him forward, and the scent of snow filled the air. The snowflake started to shine through the rain, like a bright beacon in the sky. A yell shot through the air, and Blackice's IceWings suddenly turned, diving up and down, towards the Black Prince.

Deathbringer looked over to Hemlock, about to ask her what was going on, when he felt serrated claws against his scales, pushing him towards the ground.

"GET DOWN!" Hemlock yelled out, grabbing onto Deathbringer and pushing him away. A gust of wind seemed to pull them closer to the Black Prince, and Deathbringer's scales shook, his teeth chattering like he'd been doused in freezing water. He winced as Hemlock's talons scraped against him, closing his eyes to the cold as it rushed over him. The blue light grew behind his eyelids, and the surprised yells of dragons reached his ears. He gritted his teeth as cold sunk beneath his scales, and jerked back as he felt something frozen and solid stop his flight.

When Deathbringer opened his eyes again, he no longer felt Hemlock's talons on him. In fact, he no longer felt much of anything in the back half of his body. The battlefield quieted, and flakes of snow landed on the NightWing's snout. His teeth chattered as he turned around to see that his torso, hind-legs, and tail were all trapped beneath a layer of ice. He tried to tug his tail, but it wouldn't budge.

His gaze turned on Hemlock's. Her eyes were wide open in a frightened stare, claws and wings outstretched as she reached towards him, unmoving, embedded in the ice. She wasn't the only one: a huge frozen cone, like an icicle, stretched out from a point at the Black Prince reaching all the way to the other side of Jade Mountain, the end of it reaching the clouds. All throughout, dragons were still and unmoving in the ice, instantly frozen solid like fish who'd slept in a frozen lake and had been trapped inside. Birds were still and flight, and the trees caught beneath the ice no longer moved in the winds of the storm. Deathbringer's gaze looked to the single SkyWing on the battlefield — even Peril was stuck inside the ice, motionless as it refused to melt even from her burning scales.

Deathbringer tried to move his hindquarters again, but they didn't seem to move. He gritted his teeth as he looked over at the grinning Black Prince, letting out a cackle as he lowered the snowflake shield, even as many of his own soldiers were frozen along with it, unable to escape the cone with the short warning he'd given them. Dragons began to resume fighting around the edges of the ice, and more of the IceWings came forward, talons out. Deathbringer winced, trying to figure out how many troops he had left. Not that he could do them much good stuck in here.

"Deathbringer!"

Deathbringer turned to see Jambu and Hailstorm, flying up from around the edges of the ice. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least they hadn't been caught.

"Hey Jambu!" Deathbringer called out to the RainWing. He turned back, trying to tug his tail from the ice. "I'm a little stuck, you mind helping me out?"

"It won't work," Hailstorm responded, shaking his head as Jambu grabbed onto Deathbringer's talons, flying back as the RainWing tried to pull him away. "The ice is magical," Hailstorm explained. "It won't let you free until it's stopped."

"You know what it is?" Deathbringer asked, craning his neck to try and get a peek at the Black Prince.

Prince Hailstorm nodded. "The Gift of Cessation. One of the animus Gifts that was made in war-time, with a very specific purpose." He frowned. "It doesn't kill your enemies, but it'll keep them in place long enough for, say, raiding a town, or positioning your armies advantageously."

Deathbringer gulped, glancing away from Jade Mountain. "Or destroying a part of their army, massacring civilians and dragonets, then coming back to finish the rest off." He felt his talons clench up, and Jambu's scales started to turn green. "How do we stop it?"

Hailstorm looked over towards the Black Prince. The IceWings around him had started to fly out over the battlefield, attacking the remaining parts of Deathbringer's army. He frowned. They'd even been willing to use it on their own army. "Someone has to take it from him."

Deathbringer tried to move his tail again, and sighed. "And that's not going to be me, I guess. Or Hemlock. Jambu? You can turn invisible, can't you?"

Jambu nervously tapped his claws together. IceWings swarmed around the Black Prince. It would be difficult to get through them, even with camouflage. And even if he did . . . would this mean killing again? But if he failed, how many dragons would die? "Y-yeah," he replied, trying to keep up a cheerful grin. "I'll do it."

"I'll try and keep them distracted," Hailstorm suggested. "That way, you can get through."

Jambu winced. "Are you sure?" he asked Hailstorm. "What if you get hurt? For me?"

"I'll be fine," Hailstorm assured him. "I was one of the best fighters in the Ice Kingdom. I doubt these seal-brains will be able to touch me."

"Please hurry," Deathbringer interrupted. "I really don't want to be stuck here if I'm attacked, and I think I might be getting frostbite."

Hailstorm nodded, and turned towards the Black Prince. Dragons flew around the edge of the ice, Blackice's armies pulled back. Fighting had come to a stand-still, but not for long.

"Hide, then fly around the back," Hailstorm said to Jambu. "Stay safe."

Jambu nodded, and his talons clenched, his scales faded away, until there was but a shimmer in the air, and an odd reflection in the ice. Hailstorm felt a burst of wind brush his scales.

"Remaining dragons, to my side!" Prince Hailstorm yelled out, his voice reaching as far as he could throw it. The scattered soldiers turned, finally hearing orders. "Remaining dart-gunners, stay behind! Everyone else, approach with me!"

With the wind behind him, Hailstorm glided across the side of the ice, giving a glance. They couldn't win as long as everyone was stuck inside, especially with Peril and Anemone unable to fight. The two of them had been the key to their victory. Eyes trapped in ice seemed to stare patiently as dragons joined by Hailstorm's side, flying down to become a wall of colors and scales, swiftly approaching. RainWings gathered behind, gliding as dart-guns were readied.

It was only seconds before the Black Prince noticed the regrouping army, roaring as they charged down through the air. The Black Prince grabbed ahold of the snowflake shield, flapping his wings once to glide back as he yelled out orders. IceWings gathered around him in a tight shield by the point of the ice cone, protecting him from the oncoming army. Hailstorm glanced to the side, looking for Jambu. He couldn't spot the RainWing prince at all. That was probably for the better.

"ATTACK!" Hailstorm yelled out, picking up speed. Cold winds whipped past his scales, and he opened his jaws, breathing in as he felt a chilled frostbreath come up. The IceWings on the other side tightened their formation, growing as the gap narrowed. Within just a moment, the two sides were so close together that Hailstorm could reach out his talons to touch them.

Then, Hailstorm lifted his wings up, and frostbreath shot over an IceWing he might have known. The IceWing yelled out in pain, and threw herself back, the formation collapsing. With the rain now cleared, darts shot over Hailstorm's wings with stunning accuracy, IceWings falling ot their sleep. More dragons clashed claw-to-claw, and fire and ice filled the air.

Still, the numbers weren't in Hailstorm's favor. With every enemy who fell, two more seemed to take their place. He let out a roar as tail-spikes raked his neck, blue blood spilling from silver scales. He turned, trying to pierce the attacker with his claws, but caught onto another IceWing. In the dense mess of wings and scales, he could barely fly, not even enough from to make a beat. He through himself at an IceWing, tumbling mid-air before catching the wind again as gnashing teeth and claws tore into him.

Through the chaos, Hailstorm glimpsed caught a glimpse of the Black Prince, snowflake shield in his talons, backing away from the front lines. Where was Jambu? The RainWing was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, a piercing scream filled the air. The Black Prince wailed like a dragonet as RainWing venom covered his front arm, white scales melting away as it spread. As the tendons in his claws dissolved, the shield fell from his grasp, a clunk sounding through the battle as it hit stone by the riverbed.

Invisible wings through the air shimmered as Jambu dove down, landing on the riverbed. He grabbed ahold of the shield, raising it up for Hailstorm to see, like it was floating in mid-air. Jambu shook it, pressing it to his ear. How was he supposed to deactivate it, and free the dragons stuck in ice.

"Get out of there!" Hailstorm yelled, throwing a dragon to the side as he tried to break free of the crowd, almost getting through the defenses. Jambu looked up excitedly, attempting to listen what Hailstorm was saying, the IceWing prince's words lost in the sounds of battle. "Get away!"

A thunderous roar filled the battlefield as the Black Prince's screams turned to a frightening roar. Jambu leaped out of the way, squealing as he felt frostbreath crawl up his tail, freezing the end of it. The Black Prince dove for the glimmering shield, and his talons tore into Jambu's scales as the RainWing prince rolled to the side, tucking the shield close to his belly.

Jambu panted heavily as he rolled towards the riverbed. The Black Prince turned to stare at him, and Jambu felt sticky red blood smear across his scales, rendering him visible. The IceWing seethed, lumbering over Jambu's height as he limped over towards the RainWing, the flesh on the paw that Jambu had hit with venom seared away, almost to the bone.

"Give it to me," the Black Prince hissed, trying to meet the invisible RainWing's eyes. "Give it to me, and I'll kill you quickly."

Jambu paused, shaking as he backed away. The IceWing flexed his wings, red blood dripping from his black fangs. Invisible, he could escape, but with his own blood coating his scales and the glimmering shield in his talons, he had little choice but to fight. Hailstorm's silver scales flashed out of the corner of his eye, before being covered up by white wings.

"They won't make it in time," the Black Prince sneered, taking another step closer, licking his fangs as tail-spines scraped the stone. "You're alone, RainWing. No one can help you. Give me the shield."

Jambu shuddered, unable to hold his camouflage as bright green splotches of terror came through on his scales, mixing with the red blood and making him look like a strawberry bush. If he dropped the shield, he could get away. He could live. But how many others would die for it? Hailstorm and the others seemed to be pushing through the defense, but the Black Prince was right. It wouldn't be fast enough.

"Time's up!" the IceWing roared, seeing Jambu's attention drawn away from him. He lifted up his talons and reared up, before lowering his head, frostbreath shooting from his jaws down onto Jambu.

Jambu heard Hailstorm scream something out, but there was no time for him to hear it. The RainWing turned away as freezing death breath rained down upon him, raising the snowflake over his head to shield it. Hailstorm ripped away at scales, trying to get through as he saw mist of continued frostbreath cover the rocks below.

Jambu closed his eyes, shuddering as he waited for the cold to overcome him. After a moment of confusion, he opened them back up. Cold crept around his scales, but he could still feel. He looked up to see the IceWing's frostbreath swirling around the shield in a spiral, the metal snowflake absorbing the cold. It started to glow a bright blue, like the color of glittering ice. The Black Prince stopped, and Jambu felt the winds pick up around him, snow settling on his scales.

"Wait, no, I don't want to do another freezing everyone thing!" Jambu squealed out, shaking the shield back and forth, trying to stop it. Realizing there was a better option, he lowered the shield down, pointing it at the Black Prince. "Freeze!" he yelled.

The Black Prince stared at Jambu blankly for a moment, the snowflake glowing between them. Jambu suddenly let out a squeal of pain, as his talons went numb, ice climbing up them where he was holding the shield. He shook it, trying to let go, and the shield fell to the ground, still glowing.

Jambu barely had time to look back up before the Black Prince leaped, fangs bared as he roared, and barrelled into Jambu. Jambu screamed out as talons tore into him, and the IceWing's jaws clamped down on his neck. Jambu turned his head as fangs sunk down into his scales, piercing and cracking as he felt cold air sink into his wounds.

He tried to turn away, only to feel a paw slam down on his chest. Serrated talons grabbed in, pain seared as they raked along his underside. His scales turned whiter than the IceWing's, and his underbelly clenched up as the Black Prince grabbed ahold of it, about to sink his talons into Jambu's guts and tear them out.

Suddenly, the Black Prince seemed to change his mind, and whipped his head around, throwing the small RainWing to the side. Jambu let out a yell as the ground tumbled around him, and he slammed into on the hard rock with a crack in his wing. Red blood dripped down the back of his neck as he tried to crane it up, barely able to get a glimpse of Hailstorm and their allies breaking through the barrier in a hole, pushing the enemies back as they dove down towards the Black Prince, still accosted by enemies.

Even through the pain, pinks and golds shone through Jambu's scales. Hailstorm was rescuing him! It was all going to be alright.

His expression then changed to horror as he saw the Black Prince reach towards the ground, picking up the glowing snowflake shield in his claws. He raised the Gift of Cessation up towards the attackers, and a cold wind whipped around him, snow coating Jambu's burning wounds.

"STOP!" Jambu screamed out at Hailstorm, realizing what the Black Prince was about to do. They were flying right into a trap. "Go around!"

But it was too late, and the blue light shone brighter. Jambu tried to turn his head, shooting venom towards the Black Prince as his vision blurred, but it landed on the ground in a fizzle, the RainWing prince too weak to hit his target. Sleeping darts flew through the air, but were whipped back by the winds, snow swirling as the shield pointed directly towards Prince Hailstorm along with the rest of the soldiers behind him. The light became blinding, until all Jambu could see was the shining blue beacon.

Then cold water splashed over Jambu's head, and cerulean wings blotted out the light as a roar came from the river. The Gift of Cessation activated, and a glittering cone of ice spread across the battle field. But instead of the eerie quiet and stillness of the frozen dragons, Jambu still heard the roars of battle.

Thin sheets of ice crumbled, a few dragons around the edge of the battle caught in them, but the freezing had stopped before it had hit Hailstorm and his soldiers. A huge blue SeaWing flapped his wings as he hovered between Hailstorm and the Black Prince, a dagger in his talons. The ice had stopped a few tail-lengths from his snout, unable to penetrate an invisible field around him, protecting him and all the dragons behind him from the Gift's freezing.

The Black Prince took a wary step back, looking towards the shields, wondering why it hadn't worked this time. Torrent glided down, splashing in the banks of the river, glaring at the Black Prince.

"And this is why animus magic shouldn't be in the claws of queens," Torrent grumbled, like this whole affair was just proving his point. He flashed his dagger through the air, steel glimmering as he bared his shark-like fangs. A locked scroll case hung from his neck. "You're not even a real prince, are you?"

The Black Prince snarled, turning away from Torrent as Hailstorm landed on the other side of him. In unison, the two princes took a step closer to him, and he tried to take a step back along the riverbank. The IceWing swished his spiked tail back and forth, a warning for the two not to get closer.

Instead, Torrent leaped forward, jumping into the air as the huge SeaWing came crashing down on the Black Prince. The Black Prince swung his tail back up in surprise, and Torrent let out a seething hiss as it whacked him in the ribs. But the damage was already done, as the shining blade scraped the metal shield, and the magic flooded out from it.

The fury of hundreds of dragons rang through the battlefield, as the ice holding the armies still disappeared and the battle resumed. The Black Prince let out a cry of anguish, and winds started to swirl around the battlefield, Anemone's storm returning as she was freed. Lightning and thunder crackled through the air.

Torrent bit down on the IceWing's neck as he was distracted, the Black Prince whacking him back with a wing, trying to swing his tail again. He pulled it back, only to feel the SeaWing's talons digging into it, blue blood running down his talons as Torrent swung the Black Prince to the side, right into Hailstorm's claws.

"Help!" the Black Prince squealed out as Hailstorm grip tightened around his horns, flecks of paint falling from them. "Defend me!" He looked up hopefully towards the barrier of IceWings, only to see that it had all but vanished, his forces once again outnumbered by the freed dragons, screaming and fleeing as Peril soared through them. There was no one left to help him.

Torrent grabbed the Black Prince's tail with his hind claws, pinning it to the ground as the IceWing flailed his limbs back and forth, wriggling in the two princes' grasps. Torrent stared into the Black Prince's eyes as he raised his dagger. Queen Blackice wouldn't have ever risen to power if Crystal hadn't killed Queen Glacier. Which meant that he shared at least some of the blame for this whole mess. Well, now he had his chance to fix it, at least a little bit.

Torrent sliced his dagger down, gutting the IceWing in a single motion. Hailstorm grimaced and turned away as blood splashed on his face, though it seemed barely visible on Torrent's scales. The Black Prince convulsed, before falling limp to the ground.

Hailstorm dropped the Black Prince, staring at him for a moment just to make sure he was actually dead, prodding him with a claw. After the War of SandWing Succession, it barely fazed him anymore, though he worried for the RainWings' sake. Torrent picked up the Gift of Cessation again and tapped it with his dagger just for good measure, while Hailstorm ran over to Jambu.

"Jambu!" Hailstorm cried out as he leaned over the RainWing's body. The RainWing prince's scales had gone white, one of his wings contorted behind him where he'd landed on it. A small pool of his own blood had started to form around his wounds, staining Hailstorm's talons. The RainWing seemed motionless. Hailstorm placed his talons on the RainWing's chest, feeling a gentle breath. So he was still alive.

"C'mon, Jambu, you have to wake up," Hailstorm whispered, cradling his talons around the RainWing's head, gently stroking through the fins around his ears. "It'll be fine, just keep conscious. We'll get you help, okay? Just stay with me."

Hailstorm's talons shook as Jambu's breath got lighter and lighter. He hadn't meant for this to happen. This had been his fault. He'd been supposed to protect Jambu. The RainWing prince wasn't trained for the battlefield. Tears started to form in his eyes. He shouldn't die here.

Whether out of desperation, or regret, Hailstorm put his snout up against Jambu's, his heart heavy and racing in his chest. His talons shuddered as he felt the weak RainWing beneath him. With hope all but lost, Hailstorm gave Jambu a small kiss on the side of his snout.

Much to Hailstorm's surprise, Jambu's eyes suddenly fluttered open. His strength returned, Hailstorm let out a small yelp of surprise as Jambu put his paws on the IceWing's neck, rolling him over and giving him a huge smooth on the IceWing's snout, interlocking his talons with Hailstorm. Quite uncertain how that had worked, but not missing the opportunity, Hailstorm returned the kiss, wrapping his cold wings around Jambu in an embrace, blood-stained claws stroking along Jambu's scales. For a moment, the two were still and calm, even as the chaos of the battle roared around them.

Finally, it ended. Hailstorm stared into Jambu's glittering pink eyes as he backed from the now pink RainWing, holding him still for a moment. Hailstorm looked down at Jambu's broken wing, miraculously healed. "How did I . . . ?"

Jambu giggled and pointed his talons up. Hailstorm followed them across the battlefield, his gaze finally landing on a black NightWing. Deathbringer grinned from the distance, waving his paw at Hailstorm and Jambu, scroll in his claws.

"Oh," Hailstorm said, blinking as he realized it. "Deathbringer mentioned having a healing scroll. So the kiss wasn't necessary."

Hailstorm let out a small yelp as Jambu pushed him to the ground, kissing him again. The RainWIng beamed, his scales almost glowing pink as he nuzzled against the embarrassed IceWing's neck. "No," Jambu teased, "it was very necessary."

As the two kissed again, Deathbringer turned back to his scroll. The battle wasn't won yet. Even through all this time, the arrow hadn't moved, pointing towards Jade Mountain. Queen Blackice was still out there, away from the battlefield. Deathbringer's blood ran cold.

"We need to go after her," he said, turning to Hemlock. "Queen Blackice."

The now unfrozen IceWing nodded. "We need to end this here. We can't let her escape."

Deathbringer shook his head, gulping. "Not just that," he explained. "Why do you think she's at Jade Mountain? What does the she want there?"

Hemlock frowned, as she realized it. "The academy," she whispered. "The dragonets."

"We need to go," Deathbringer said, as the two sped off. All the commotion had shifted the battle towards the north, and there were only a few more dragons fighting on their path. Wind rushed past as they flew towards Jade Mountain.

"She wouldn't attack there," Hemlock winced, the speed of her flight showing how unsure of her own words she was. "It's guarded well, and almost impossible to enter, and we would've noticed if she'd gone there with any decent-sized number of soldiers. She can't enter."

"What about animus magic?" Deathbringer asked, heart racing. "Does she have something that can make dragons invisible?"

Hemlock shook her head. "IceWings aren't much for being stealthy. It would be a waste of a Gift. And that SeaWing is guarding there too, the one with the anti-animus dagger."

"Torrent," Deathbringer winced, looking back towards the battlefield, a speck of blue visible through the rainstorm. "The one who helped get rid of the magical ice trapping everyone? He's down there right now."

Hemlock let out an anguished yell, a mix between a groan and a roar as the two rushed towards the mountain. "I know, I know," she winced. "More trouble than he's worth. That's what you sa—"

A bright flash of light suddenly interrupted Hemlock's speech. Deathbringer felt an odd feeling crawl up his scales, and tried to brush it off. The unnatural feeling of slime crept between his talons, like something was crawling over his scales. He looked down as he tried to wipe it away, but saw nothing on his scales. The shadows between them seemed to grow like a pitch-black film over the NightWing's dark exterior.

Deathbringer turned back towards Jade Mountain, only to see that darkness had crept over the valley in front of him. For a moment, the battle went silent as a huge violet orb started to rise over Jade Mountain like a second sun. Black flames seemed to creep from its surface and the stench of death rose from the ground. Deathbringer shuddered as the unearthly feeling of animus magic wormed its way through his scales, whispers in his ears. The cold sun grew higher in the sky, its light raining down upon the battlefield.

"Close your eyes!" Hemlock suddenly yelled out. "Don't look! It's not real!"

For a moment, Deathbringer couldn't look away, the violet flames over Jade Mountain burning an image in his eyes. Worms seemed to climb up around his neck, and he felt his throat constrict. Then, Hemlock's ears pierced his mind, and he shut his eyes tight, trying to blot out the world around him. The sensation on his scales disappeared, the light unable to break through his eyelids.

Then, he heard the first scream. A dragon on the battlefield behind him yelled out, his voice quivering. "STOP! STOP!"

Don't look, Deathbringer remembered, keeping his eyes shut. Whatever it is, it's not real. Trust Hemlock. He paused. Could he really trust her? What if this was a trap by Queen Blackice all along? What if she was betraying him? No. That couldn't be.

And then, the entire battlefield behind Deathbringer joined the first dragon. Screams of pain and terror filled the battlefield, dragons crying, calling for help. Agonized howls rose up in a chorus, Deathbringer's blood curdling. Had he caused this? How could he look away? How could he not help? Had all this been his fault?

He turned his head behind them, trying to keep his eyes shut like Hemlock had asked. The violet light seemed to stain his eyelids, and in its reflection, he saw dragons dying. Every dragon he killed seemed to be outlined in light, staring at him, pleading for mercy, pleading for death. Glory's eyes pierced his, her screams filling his ears.

Then, it faded. For a moment, Deathbringer was still inside his mind, his heart racing. Cold winds seemed to grip his wings, holding him aloft. Finally, he opened his eyes.

The screams and wails instantly flood Deathbringer's ears again, and he stared at the scene of terror before him. The violet rays had disappeared, but the dark sun was still in the sky. In the battlefield in front of him, almost every dragon had landed, some on top of other. Some former enemies hugged each other for comfort, while others threw themselves at their opponents jaws in a suicidal rush. Dragons writhed on the ground, clutching at their eyes as they screamed. RainWings, NightWings, and IceWings alike pounded their heads in sheer terror, swatting at the falling raindrops like they were venom.

"What's going on?" Deathbringer asked to Hemlock, voice shaking. What had happened? The battle had come to a complete standstill, only a few dragons left able to fly. Dragons on the ground tried to crawl away, but few found the strength to even raise their limbs.

"I didn't think she'd use it," Hemlock whispered, gliding down towards Deathbringer. Her voice was quiet, expression cold and empty. Whatever she'd seen, it seemed to have shaken her to her core. She pointed up at the dark sun, its light cast over the battlefield. "The Gift of Terror. It's one of the Second Gifts."

"Second Gift?" Deathbringer asked.

Hemlock grimaced. "The IceWing animuses were only allowed to use their magic once throughout their lives, usually for something big that would greatly benefit the entire tribe, at the cost of their soul. But sometimes, this was broken, always for a great or terrible reason. Queen Diamond's Gift of Vengeance came from her hatred and desire for revenge. The Gift of Terror was created in a civil war long-passed, by animus who made their Second Gift out of fear for their own life. Any dragon who sees its rays are plagued by horrific visions until it's . . . deactivated. Not even Queen Blackice's own armies escaped it."

"How do we deactivate it?" Deathbringer asked, staring at the battlefield. Whether by luck or an early warning, some dragons still roamed the battlefield, and small tussles started to resume. And unfortunately, it looked like more of Blackice's troops had been left able to fight than his own. On the other side of the battlefield, across a sky filled with enemies, he spotted Torrent, the SeaWing standing in front of a frightened Jambu and Hailstorm as IceWings tried to pile on him.

Hemlock looked back at Jade Mountain, the twin peaks piercing through the horizon like two horns, the dark sun above them. "The dragon who activated it has to be killed. It's why I didn't think Queen Blackice would use it."

"So she's made herself a target," Deathbringer frowned, turning back to Jade Mountain. He clutched a silver chakram in his talons, almost snapping it in two. "She wants us to come for her. She's baiting us."

Hemlock nodded. "So what do we do?"

Deathbringer winced. They could go across the battlefield and try and get Torrent, but how much time would that take? How long did they have, with Queen Blackice already in front of Jade Mountain Academy, only terrified dragons able to defend against her? Even if this was a trap, they didn't have any better options. "We have to stop her."

"Agreed," Hemlock sighed.

The two took off, the valley silent as they soared up towards the twin peaks. Storm clouds swirled around it, rain pouring down as bolts of lightning flashed through the sky. Violet light rained down, and terror and rage clutched at Deathbringer's heart. This was the dragon who'd killed Glory.

Deathbringer wiped the rain from his eyes as he and Hemlock approached the mountaintop. Violet light pierced through the rain like a dark haze, and mists rose up. The stench of fear itself seemed to emanate from the mountain, and the sickly sound of cold silence creeped through the noise of the storm.

The figures of three dragons were visible through the mists as Deathbringer and Hemlock descended towards the welcoming platform, situated precariously over a cliff's edge. The place where dragonets would first enter Jade Mountain Academy, devoted to peace and learning, would be stained with either red or blue blood today.

The two landed, talons splashing down in cold rain, running down off the platform towards the three mist-shrouded figures, creating an unnatural waterfall over the cliff's side. Deathbringer turned back at the academy's entrance, upstream of the platform that the caves wouldn't flood. This way, he'd be able to stand between Blackice and the dragonets.

Deathbringer's eyes stared as his gaze met the eyes of dragons in the yawning entrance cavern. Stalactites reached down like knives, and dragonets and adult dragons alike remained motionless in the gaping maw of the academy.

"Run!" Deathbringer yelled at a SandWing dragonet. "Get into the caverns where they can't find you!" If the dragonet had heard him, he made no response. The SandWing's eyes were still and cold, the violet light of the dark sun reflected in them.

"They can't," a voice said.

Deathbringer whipped his head back to see the three figures walking forward from the edge of the cliff. He put his claws around his silver disk, ready to throw it at any moment.

"They were too close to the Gift of Terror," the voice sneered, the mists breaking around Queen Blackice's snout as she stepped through them, her gait an unsteady limp. Her cruel blue eyes pierced through the fog, but Deathbringer's gaze wasn't focused on that. Just like the reports had said, Queen Blackice's front-right leg and right wing were now nothing more than blackened stumps. Her tail slowly waved back and forth, the spines on the end almost mesmerising. A chain was wrapped around her other front paw, water dripping from the iron. "Now they're frozen in fear. They can't move at all. All they can do is watch in silence as their worst terrors devour their brains, until the day my heart stops beating."

Deathbringer felt his talons clutch around the chakram, and his claws almost instinctively moved back. He'd make sure that day would be today.

"Don't be hasty," Blackice snapped, her eyes narrowed at the NightWing assassin, a threat implicit in her voice.

That's right, Deathbringer remembered, his breath quickened. She's brash, but she's not stupid. She knows I can kill her. She wouldn't have come out here without a plan. His talons lowered, the silver disk cutting into his scales, the enchanted scroll soaked and drooping in his other paw.

"Blackice," Hemlock growled, stepping forward. The IceWing tyrant turned her head, giving Hemlock a look tantamount to boredom. "The IceWings have deemed your rule unjust and illegal. Your title is stripped. You have no more power over the Ice Kingdom."

Blackice shook her head, and let out a quiet chuckle, flicking her tongue over her pearly fangs. "Which IceWings?" she asked. She gestured out towards the battlefield with her wing. "The cowards writhing in fear, fleeing from the fight?"

"They're only afraid because you've abused the ancient animus Gifts," Hemlock accused Blackice. "They're only supposed to be used in dire need. We were in peacetime."

Queen Blackice narrowed her eyes, serrated talons scratching through the running water. "The IceWings are in dire need, don't you see? My mother, and those before her, held us back from our full potential for far too long. We cowered behind our wall while our enemies roamed freely, living in a borrowed luxury as our kingdom collapsed into ruin. Twenty years of a war we couldn't win, not because we didn't have the power, but because my mother didn't have the heart to win it. But I was victorious. I killed the NightWing queen twice, and still you refuse to fall before me?"

"Yeah," Deathbringer growled. "We're not going to just let you kill us. You know, you should've just spent the rest of your days out on that barren iceberg you got sent to. You made a mistake, killing innocent dragons, and now you're gonna regret it."

Blackice's frown suddenly twisted into a warped smile, and she let out a laugh. "You really were a good match!" she sneered. "Your RainWing said the same thing right before I tortured her to death!"

Deathbringer's heart pounded, blood dripping from where he clutched the chakram, though the pain barely registered over his rage. He raised it up again, eyes wide. "I'll kill you!" he yelled out, water dripping along his eyes. "I'll finish what Glory started! This time, I'll take off more than a wing and a leg!"

Hemlock stretched out a wing warily, keeping it in front of Deathbringer as she kept him from throwing the chakram. His talons shook, it taking all his effort not to throw it right into Blackice's grin.

"No, you won't," Blackice tsked. "You won't kill me. Alchemy. Come forward."

A quiet whimper sounded from behind Blackice. She turned around with a hiss, and whipped the iron chain she held, pulling it closer. Out of the mists, a small NightWing shuddered as he stepped up to Blackice, the third dragon, a Black Prince, looming behind him, a copper medallion swinging from his neck.

Alchemy stared up at Deathbringer quietly, like he was surprised to have seen another NightWing, though it took a few seconds for Deathbringer to realize that Alchemy was, in fact, a NightWing. His scales were barely black anymore, now covered in frostbreath scars, and there were nothing left of his long straight horns but stubs. In the same places where Queen Blackice had her injuries, Alchemy's front leg and wing had been removed, frozen and cracked off. Chafing rope had been strapped all around the NightWing's body, with hundreds of glass vials attached to it, filled with a liquid that seemed to glisten in the violet light.

"Do you understand?" Blackice grinned, eyes wide open like she was obsessed with her own horrific plot. "If you kill me, Alchemy will crack one of his vials. Each is filled with an potent explosive, and with so many, we'll all go up in flame. And not just you two, since I'm sure you're both so heroic you'd be willing to sacrifice yourselves in an instant, but every dragonet and dragon frozen in fear at the cavern entrance will perish a horrible firey death. How many NightWings do you think are there? How many will die? Even in death, I win."

"You're a monster," Deathbringer whispered, staring over at the shaking Alchemy.

"Blame my mother," Blackice snorted, "or maybe yours. And if you're wonder whether Alchemy would actually do that, yes, he certainly would. I've trained him well. I doubt the poor creature wants much more than death at this point, regardless. It's why I had to remove his claws, you see."

"So we're at a standstill," Hemlock replied. "You can't leave this place, or we'll kill you as soon as you get far enough away from the cavern entrance. But we can't kill you as long as you're here."

"Or, we capture her alive, and see her brought to justice for her crimes against NightWings, RainWings, and IceWings alike," Deathbringer pointed out.

A slim smile formed on Queen Blackice's face, like this was exactly how she'd been expecting things to go. She shook her head, and let out a laugh, distorted by the mists. "I highly doubt you'll be able to do that." She turned back to the Black Prince, gesturing him with her remaining wing. "Go forward."

The Black Prince only took a single step before Deathbringer's claws twitched, and the IceWing's eyes opened wide in surprise. A cling sounded from his medallion as metal hit metal. The Black Prince's talons went up to his neck, as blue blood started to pour down it.

"Now there's no one left to help you," Deathbringer said, pulling another chakram from his pouch. "This is it for you."

Queen Blackice let out a cackle. "You arrogant fool," she hissed. "You think we weren't prepared?"

Deathbringer looked back to the Black Prince, barely able to stand as blood gushed from his wound. The amulet drenched in his life fluids had changed color, now a glistening silver. The Black Prince opened his jaws, eyes straining as his voice came out, barely even a whisper.

"I swear my blood to the protection of the royal family."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the air seemed to grow still. Deathbringer stared as he saw a raindrop in front of his eyes, frozen, unable to fall. The blood on the Black Prince had stopped with the rain, and the stench of iron filled Deathbringer's snout.

Then, a raindrop rose up from the ground. Deathbringer's eyes followed it as it fell back up towards the sky, and blood rose back up into the Black Prince's neck, the wound on the chakram repairing itself. The wind was sucked away, the very air around the Black Prince distorting. His talons shook with power, lightning crackling through them as he stared at Deathbringer with glowing golden eyes.

The Black Prince's neck suddenly cracked to the side, and Deathbringer saw one of his forelegs bulge out, the muscles on it visible and writhing beneath his scales like snakes. Hemlock stepped back as his legs started to grow, drool dripping from the Black Prince's jaws as his body twisted back and forth, growing to twice its size. White scales shattered as they grew, spots of blue-colored flesh creeping beneath them, bulging out in patches. The Black Prince, or whatever he'd become, opened his twisted jaws, fangs shimmering like golden treasure.

A high-pitched shriek suddenly pierced the air, vibrations through it pulsing. Deathbringer gritted his teeth, placing his claws over his ears, clutching them tight as the Black Prince screaming. Even Queen Blackice winced, trying to cover herself from the sound. After a few moments, it stopped, and the huge Black Prince stood in place, neck twisted to the side.

Deathbringer cautiously removed his claws, staring up at the Black Prince, lightning arcing between his talons. A furious sound rang through Deathbringer's ears, quickly quieting down. The Black Prince's expression didn't change, like he no longer had any notion of what was going on in the outside world.

"Well, that's new," Queen Blackice mused, her voice muted, a hint of surprise and possibly worry. "I was just expecting him to get big and be able to read minds and tell the future, but it appears that there's a new strongest dragon in Pyrrhia. Isn't that interesting? Kill them."

The Black Prince's head snapped to the other side, still at a unnatural angle. His eyes swivelled around in a circle, before landing on Deathbringer. A strange golden light started to shine from the back of his maw.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Hemlock yelled as she jumped to the right. Deathbringer was already off his paws, and had leaped to the side not a moment too soon. A ball of golden flame leapt from the Black Prince's maw, his jaw breaking from the force with a snap, landing where Deathbringer had been.

Deathbringer let out a yell as the ball of flame exploded, and he was thrown across the platform, sliding through the slipper water. He got back up to his paws, staring back at where the fireball had hit. A dragon-sized crater had now been carved through the platform, with a scared-looking Hemlock on the other side.

"Ha . . . ha . . . ha . . ." The Black Prince twisted his neck again, a voice rasping in the back of his throat that could've been a laugh.

Queen Blackice grinned, eyes wide as she pulled Alchemy back from the battle, not wanting her living bomb to accidentally activate. She stared up at the Black Prince, amazed that such a powerful creature was protecting her.

Deathbringer moved to the side, Hemlock following until they were on opposite sides of the IceWing. He frowned, taking out a few more of the chakrams from his pouch. He'd need them. The Black Prince's eyes split, one of them following Deathbringer, and the other Hemlock, his head hanging limply between them.

"I've killed bigger," Deathbringer finally said, a faint smile forming as he saw a hint of concern on Blackice's snout. "Hemlock! Aim for the pendant!"

Hemlock charged forward, sliding through slick water as she opened her jaws, and frostbreath came out of them. The Black Prince didn't even make an attempt to avoid it, doing nothing as it covered his neck, no sense of pain making him take a motion. Hemlock jumped back. "Now!"

Three chakrams left Deathbringer's talons, whipping through the air as they sailed towards the Black Prince's neck. A spurt of blue blood flopped onto the wet ground as two embedded themselves in his neck, and the third hit between them, aiming right onto one of the frozen necklace-links.

Deathbringer let out a cry of victory as he saw it crack, but had little time to celebrate it as the Black Prince's paw instantly slammed up into the necklace, clutching around it. The white scales suddenly glowed red, smoke rising into the air. When his paw left the necklace, the chainlinks had been melted into a hunk of metal, fuzed together with his scales.

"Once more!" Hemlock yelled out, preparing her frostbreath again. She jumped to the side as two silver chakrams suddenly flew past her, digging into the side of her legs as blue blood dripped into the water below. She winced as she took an unsteady step back, only to see that the chakrams were flying through the air again, reversing their direction as they soared back over her horns, scraping them. "Look out!"

Deathbringer dove down as his own chakrams flung themselves over him, sliding through the water. He rolled to the side and yelled out as one cut along his wing. The chakrams shimmered in the violet light as they flew off the edge of the mountainside, until they were out of view.

Deathbringer rolled back, getting to his paws as Hemlock stumbled back. He quickly whispered the words to activate the healing enchantment, and the wounds on her legs closed up.

Almost immediately, Hemlock leaped at the huge Black Prince's throat, claws out and ready as she attempted to tear the chain at his neck. His neck whipped around, and he stared for a moment, not even making a motion to move as she soared through the air, fangs bared. Then, a moment before her claws touched, he disappeared.

Hemlock let out a yelp of surprise as she crashed into the ground, sliding across the wet surface before turning around. Deathbringer grabbed another chakram, eyes darting from side to side as he looked around. Where had he gone?

Then, a blue light shimmered from behind Hemlock, and the Black Prince appeared from thin air. The IceWing's tail whipped, and Hemlock let out a yell as the force flung her across the platform, landing on one of the edges, dangerously close to the cliffside. As she looked up, eyes wide, the Black Prince instantly appeared in front of her, faster than any dragon could move. She screamed as his huge paw wrapped around her head, clenching it tight.

"HEMLOCK!" Deathbringer yelled out, flinging his chakrams at the Black Prince's front leg, hoping to force him to let go. The Black Prince's head twisted to the side, and more talons stretched out. Lightning crackled, and shot from his claws towards the chakram, immediately vaporizing them before the bolt slammed into the cavern ceiling.

A crumble sounded from behind Deathbringer, and he whipped his head around to see that part of the entrance cavern's roof was collapsing, a huge rock falling from it. His eyes went wide as he saw two dragonets, frozen in fear as the rocks were about to fall down on their head. Deathbringer's legs went into motion before he had a chance to think about it, and he rushed towards the cavern as the rock fell down.

A huge chunk of the cavern roof fell through the air as Deathbringer's talons grabbed onto the dragonets, pushing them back as hard as he could. They toppled to the ground a tail-length away, falling into another dragon with a clunk. He let out a yell as the rock landed on his backside, bones cracking as it pinned him to the ground. Blood poured from him as he felt his vision grow dark. His talons scrambled around the stone, before finally clutching against the wet scroll he'd dropped. He whispered the activation words as he looked down at his own talon, the pain subsiding as his bones and organs healed themselves.

Then, a nauseating crack sounded through the air. Deathbringer looked back, barely able to see anything with the rock pinning him down. He felt himself get queasy as he saw bits of bone and brain fall from the Black Prince's talons, enclosed in a fist around what was left of Hemlock's head. He said the healing words, but it was far too late, and Hemlock didn't move, her head crushed.

Blue blood and shards of bone still coating his scales, the Black Prince raised his paw, and swiped his tail. The rest of Hemlock's body slipped off the cliff, Deathbringer staring as it fell from view. He teeth chattered, as he tried to reach for another chakram, his pouch pinned beneath his neck. He couldn't grieve. Right now, he just had to survive.

"Ha . . ." the Black Prince said. "Ha . . . ha . . ."

As he tried to open the pouch, the Black Prince disappeared. Deathbringer blinked, before a blue light flashed at the entrance to the cavern. The Black Prince reappeared, the twisted head staring down as both eyes swiveled. Deathbringer hadn't been fast enough. Huge cracked talons wrapped around the boulder, blood and bits of bone smearing across its surface. The Black Prince made something like a grin as he lifted it up as easily as one would a pebble, his other front claws grabbing onto Deathbringer tail. With a twist of his front leg, Deathbringer was thrown across the platform.

Deathbringer rolled over, trying to get back on his claws. He healed himself, before letting out a scream. The Black Prince teleported above him, landing on Deathbringer's ribcage. As Deathbringer felt his ribs crack under the weight, he used the last of his breath to whisper the words activating the healing. He immediately healed before the Black Prince pressed down again.

"Cindimedybondmicindimedybondmicindimedybondmi," Deathbringer stared at his talons as he whispered the words over and over again, the constant healing the only thing keeping him alive as the Black Prince crushed him. Golden light streamed down from the monstrous IceWing's golden eyes, electricity crackling across Deathbringer's scales.

A quiet laugh filled the air, though Deathbringer could barely listen. Water splashed as Queen Blackice stepped over to Deathbringer, staring down at him with cruel blue eyes. She grinned as she saw his desperation, the words continuously whispered over and over again.

"You really thought you were going to beat me, didn't you?" Queen Blackice smirked. "You were close, I'll give you that. You did far better than I thought you were going to do. But you lost. I won. It may have taken two thousand years, but I won the war. Me! I'm the greatest! Two millennia of IceWing queens couldn't do what I've done! I won! I won!"

Queen Blackice squealed in joy, almost dancing as Deathbringer chanted the healing words like a mantra, no room to reply to Blackice's gloating or even look at her as his lungs were crushed over and over.

"After this, I'm going to kill the rest of the NightWings," Blackice chuckled, peering over at Deathbringer again, beneath her huge protector. "I could probably have my huge monstrous friend here kill them all in a single blast, but where's the fun in that? No, no, I need to do it myself." She frowned for a moment, deep in thought. "Ooh, but you had a dragonet with that RainWing queen, didn't you? So she's the queen now, isn't she? But if she's only half-NightWing, so I only need to half-kill her."

Tears started to fall from Deathbringer's eyes, as he kept repeating the words. If he died here, who would stop Blackice? Firefly . . . she had to survive. He couldn't let Blackice hurt. He felt his breath falter, his words momentarily interrupted by a bloody cough as the Black Prince pressed down harder.

"But which half?" Blackice mused. "I could take off a wing and a leg, but that's not a half. Barely even a quarter. What if I had her other wing, and the rest of her legs? How about that? You've held her. You know how much she weighs. Do you think the her limbs are about half of her?"

Deathbringer let out a whimper as the Black Prince pressed down. For just a moment, he glanced to the side, but was unable to meet Blackice's eyes. Blood started to drip from his mouth as he was crushed, his voice just a whimper as he quickly turned back to keep healing himself.

Blackice giggled. "She's so little though. It wouldn't take long, would it? I would just have to snap, snap, snap." She raised her claws up, making motions with them. "I would keep you around to watch, but I've gotten tired of you. You're too much of a pesk. Hey, maybe I'll keep your head around! You and your mate can watch as I do it! How about that?"

Blackice stared down at Deathbringer, eyes wide open in a grin, before something caught her attention out of the corner of her gaze. She turned around, seeing Alchemy's eyes wide open, staring at her. She frowned as she saw both his wings tucked against his side, his claws shaking as water ran over them.

"Hey, how'd you get your wings back?" Blackice asked, confused. She frowned, seeing that the leg she'd frozen off had come back, along with his horns and talons.

Alchemy took a cautious step back. The NightWing stumbled, one of his hind paws unintentionally slipping over the edge of the platform, the chain around it pulling him back. Blackice's expression suddenly changed, a hint of fear in it. She quickly quenched it, baring her fangs.

"Come back here, Alchemy," Blackice hissed. "You're mine. If you don't come back to me right now, I'll hurt you worse than I've ever done before. You know I can do it, don't you? Remember all the times I've hurt you, and how you've never been able to hurt me back? Come back, right now."

Alchemy shuddered, his breath speeding up. The NightWing looked down at his paws for a second, almost surprised at the talons still there. Then, he shook his head and tucked in his wings, and stepped back over the cliff.

Blackice's eyes went as wide as the full moons, and she let out a scream as she saw Alchemy's body disappear over the edge of the cliff, the chain on it going taut. She looked back at Deathbringer, barely a moment to say anything as Alchemy's falling weight pulled her away. Deathbringer dug his claws into the Black Prince's neck, grasping onto the necklace in an attempt to hold him long enough as Blackice screamed out. Her single front paw tried to grab onto the slick stone, but wasn't enough as the rain washed her grasp away, screeching as Alchemy's weight tore her from the side of the cliff.

Blackice's screams filled the air as she swung out her wing, unable to generate enough lift with it as Alchemy's weight pulled her through the air. "NO!" she screamed at him, as the NightWing plummeted towards the trees beneath, his wings stiff against his side. "FLY!"

A final shrill scream of terror rose up the mountainside as Alchemy slammed into the bottom of the cliff. The NightWing's eyes stared up as his torturer as the vials around him shattered from the hit, the liquid in them instantly igniting as they touched air.

"STOP!" Blackice squealed as fire engulfed Alchemy, the ground filled with it as it rose up towards the falling IceWing. "I ORDER IT! BUT I WON!"

The roar of wind and flames filled the sky, as a column of fire rose up from the edge of the cliff, reaching the clouds. Deathbringer turned his head away as it blinded him, the heat licking his scales as the edge of the cliff crumbled. He looked back to see the platform falling, the mountainside brought down upon Queen Blackice, burying her and Alchemy beneath the rubble from the explosion.

Deathbringer turned as the weight left his chest. The amulet around the Black Prince's neck had turned copper, and the IceWing had shrunk to his normal size, before falling off Deathbringer. Wounds around his neck turned blue as he succumbed to his fatal wounds in a puddle of blood, washed over the edge of the cliff.

Deathbringer pushed the weight of his body off him. His talons shook as he stared up into the sky, a cloud of smoke billowing up into the fading storm. The dark sun had disappeared, and a ray of true sunshine hit Deathbringer's eyes. The ex-assassin stared into the distance, still shaking as the Claws of the Clouds rose up before him, the mist dispersing. He shuddered as a cry of victory sounded from the battlefield, and the dragonets behind him looked around and whispered in confusion, wondering what had happened.

Deathbringer let out a sigh as he stepped over to the edge of the cliff. Tears ran down his scales like rain as he pictured Firefly in his mind's eye, and he granted himself a smile.

Finally, it was over.

Chapter 39

Dark, barren land stretched out to the horizon on all sides, jagged hills like fangs. Midnight stared straight ahead as a column of black clouds billowed up as tall as mountain, lightning crackling beneath them. Smoke, or rain? She wasn't sure. But it was foreboding, especially if that was where the Mausoleum was. In another world, that was where Midnight's brother had died.

Midnight glanced to the side, Tiger flying out behind her. The three dragonets were doing a good job at keeping up with the adults, especially for not having flown much for a while. Maybe because in some sense, this journey was even more urgent for them. If Tiger was at all scared, the RainWing didn't show it on her scales, kept at their base orange and black colors.

Tiger's head turned as she saw Midnight looking at her. She tilted her head to the side, unsure if Midnight wanted something from her or not.

"Er, Tiger," Midnight spoke, slightly uncomfortable. But if this plan failed, who knew if she'd have another chance to ask about this. The deepest black. With three moons, midnight was never that dark, at least not for another forty years. "You knew Ink, didn't you? Was he . . . well?"

"Well?" Tiger asked, unsure what Midnight meant about the question. "I don't think so. He's dead."

Midnight winced. "Er, not like that. Was he happy? Was he nice? What was he like?"

Tiger blinked. That was a large question. "I only knew him for maybe a week," she answered. "And a lot of that time was spent not around the winglet."

"Oh," Midnight replied awkwardly, "sorry."

Tiger shook her head. "I can try and tell you," she continued, thinking for a moment. "He was friendly. He came in and played Queens and Generals with our winglet, then introduced us to a SkyWing named Inferno. I wasn't really sure how they knew each other — I think they were both part of the Talons of Peace? They both shadowed our Winglet, trying to decide if they wanted to enroll in the academy or not. We didn't know him long, but everyone he met seemed to like him. Even Polar warmed up to him."

"So he wasn't . . . evil?" Midnight asked warily. "He didn't secretly plot to kill anyone?"

"I don't think so," Tiger said, taken slightly by surprise. "He seemed courageous. I think he knew he was going to die."

"I guess I'm slightly relieved," Midnight said with a sigh. "About the not evil part. Both me and my father had no idea what happened to his egg after Griffin took it. Since we never heard about him after that, we assumed that Crystal and Aurora caught up and killed them both. Torrent thought it was . . . better than the other option, them taking the egg alive and turning Ink evil like Aurora. But I guess they escaped."

Tiger shook her head. "Ink and Aurora sounded nothing alike."

"You met her?" Midnight asked, slightly distressed at the notion.

"I didn't meet her, but she visited Jade Mountain," Tiger explained. "She almost caused an earthquake. Ink fought with her, but it didn't go well. He got injured pretty badly. Toxin said that they met her again by the Mausoleum, but she just left instead of stopping them."

"Hmm," Midnight frowned, suspicious. "She just left?"

Tiger nodded. "Your dad said she went to the Sky Kingdom after that."

"The Sky Kingdom," Midnight snorted, suspicious. "She can't be doing anything good there."

Tiger thought about it for a moment. "Hey," she realized. "That's where the Empress is taking her army. They were going to attack Queen Scarlet."

"The Empress?" Midnight shivered. "That's not good. An alliance between her and Aurora sounds bad. Two of the evilest most powerful dragons joining up? I hope they don't end up meeting."

"It won't matter if we find the Wishstone first," Tiger suggested. "That's the goal. If we get it, we can use it to stop the Empress."

"Yeah," Midnight smiled. "Good plan." Of course, that depends on us finding a way back to Pyrrhia first. She let out a sigh. If only she had her magic right now. "Thanks for telling me about Ink. Sorry for bothering you with this."

Tiger shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's nice to talk to someone else for a change."

Midnight looked up. The clouds above them were looming like a huge wall, lightning storming through the sky. Beneath them, darkness shrouded the hills where the mausoleum was held. For a moment, Midnight thought that she saw snow lining the ground, but the grey flakes landed on her dark scales, without a hint of cold or water in them. This was ash, not snow. It was like the world itself was broken.

Skytaker gave a nervous glance back, frowning. They hadn't been raised with horrific stories of the Darkstalker, but they'd learned enough about him at Jade Mountain that they really didn't like how the black dragon had been watching them this entire flight, a greedy curiosity in his eyes. Skytaker warily kept their eyes on him as he moved closer.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, you know," Darkstalker smiled.

"You say that after reading my mind," Skytaker retorted. "Are you trying to get me on your side or something?"

Darkstalker shook his head. "Aren't we already on the same side?"

Skytaker frowned, and Darkstalker let out a sigh as he read the SkyWing-NightWing hybrid's thoughts.

"Alright," Darkstalker said. "You seem like the one in charge here, so I just figured I should talk to you if I wanted everyone else to hate me less."

"Flattery won't work," Skytaker stated.

"I'm not," Darkstalker assured them. A puzzled expression came over his snout as he squinted, examining Skytaker. "You don't have NightWing powers, do you?"

"Me?" Skytaker asked, surprised. They snorted. "Doubt it. I don't even think I was hatched in moonlight. Why do you care?"

"You're also half-NightWing," Darkstalker pointed out, "like me. Although, I was really wondering because your thoughts are weird."

"Weird?" Skytaker frowned.

Darkstalker nodded. "Unusual. I don't mean to pry, but your thoughts have this odd quality to them. I can't really put it into words, but they're some how . . . cleaner? More direct? Your mind is less full than everyone else?"

"Now you're saying I'm stupid?" Skytaker sighed, rolling their eyes.

"No, no, not that," Darkstalker smiled. "Exactly the opposite. Your thoughts are clear and more direct. Like there's more space for you to think." Darkstalker thought for a moment. Skytaker shivered, like their soul was being stared into. "Your earring?"

Skytaker moved their claws towards it protectively, like they were trying to hide it from Darkstalker. "What about it?"

"Feel free to tell me to go away if you don't want to talk about it, but it crossed your mind," Darkstalker explained.

Skytaker sighed, seriously considering the option. "Yeah. I think it's enchanted."

"See, that's interesting!" Darkstalker pointed out. "We've learned something already, from talking! If it's enchanted, then that means that animus magic still works in Antigonia, even if it isn't Liliana's. But animuses like Midnight and apparently me just can't use it here. What do you think that means?"

Skytaker thought about it for a moment. They looked away from Darkstalker, knowing he was invasively listening to their every thought. "I don't know."

"Here's what I think, and I think you agree with me," Darkstalker grinned. "There's something that lets dragons use animus magic, but whatever does that, it isn't here or doesn't work here. But, whatever causes magic to actually work is still around in Antigonia. There are two separate things, and one of them is missing."

"I'm not an animus," Skytaker responded cautiously. "I wouldn't know."

Darkstalker nodded. "So, what about your enchantment? Do you know what it does? If you're not sure, I might be able to help."

"I know what it does," Skytaker sighed. "I don't know where it came from, but it blocks some bad memories."

"That explains it," Darkstalker said, gliding a little closer to Skytaker. "Maybe your mind is clear because you don't have those memories weighing you down. Can I touch it? There's something I want to check."

"Touch it?" Skytaker asked, confused. They paused, a little bit concerned. "I guess. Just don't remove it. I tried taking it off with Tiger once, and it wasn't fun."

"I promise," Darkstalker replied, getting close enough his wings almost touched Skytaker's. The SkyWing-NightWing hybrid turned their head away as Darkstalker prodded the conch earring with a talon. "Is there something inside?"

"Yeah, that's where the enchantment is," Skytaker replied. "What did you check? Did you find anything weird?"

Darkstalker tilted his head back and forth. "Not sure," he replied. "Something feels familiar, though. Do you think I enchanted it? Other me, I mean?"

Skytaker let out a laugh, and shook their head. "You've been dead for two-thousand years."

Darkstalker shrugged his front legs. "Oh well. I guess not. Well, thank you for letting me touch it."

"Hey, you don't get to leave yet," Skytaker grinned, before Darkstalker flew back. "It's my turn to ask you weird questions."

"That's fair," Darkstalker answered, nodding his head. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"So, how come you killed so many IceWings if you're half-IceWing yourself?" Skytaker interrogated.

Darkstalker smiled. "No clue. I'm not your Darkstalker, remember?" He gave a quick glance back towards Ermine. "I don't have any particular hatred towards IceWings, if that's what you're asking. Here, it's more RainWings than anything. The Empress, in particular."

"What are you going to do after we defeat her?" Skytaker asked. "If you're in charge of the rebellion, does that mean you're going to become the ruler of Antigonia or something? King?"

"After?" Darkstalker laughed, giving Skytaker a funny look. He shook his head. "To be honest, we've been fighting her so long, we've almost given up on there being an 'after.' Whatever it is, it's going to be better than now. Being king . . . that's an interesting thought, but I don't think the rest of the rebellion would be happy with that. We've had enough of empresses and kings."

"So, you don't plan to replace her, or anything like that?"

"No," Darkstalker stated firmly. "Even if I somehow end up in charge afterwards, I wouldn't ever become like her. I'll admit, I do have some ideas of my own for what to do with Antigonia, but I just want to make it a better place. A fair place, where no one has to live in constant fear." He gave Skytaker a glance, reading their mind. "You're wondering how. Well, there's the Obscura. Whoever controls it will likely be able to stay in power, for at least a time being. The rebellion has occasionally argued over what to do with it, and there's a lot who want to destroy it, but I think it would be stupid to throw something as powerful as it away. Even if we win against Liliana, we'll need that sort of power to keep Antigonia from descending into chaos." He chuckled. "I wasn't really expecting to try and formulate political plans today."

Darkstalker looked over at Skytaker again. The dark clouds were looming closer, the dragons quickly approaching the storm of ash. Darkstalker frowned as he read the hybrid's mind. "I see you're already starting to think up emergency plans to take me down if I betray you. I really am hated on Pyrrhia, aren't I?"

"Oh," Skytaker winced, feeling a tad guilty. This Darkstalker hadn't done anything horrible, like the one on Pyrrhia. Maybe it wasn't fair of them to judge every word Darkstalker said like he was a threat. They were probably reading too much into this, too wary of this Darkstalker having power. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Darkstalker grinned. "It's what I would've done. And you're right. I really will be a threat, when we get to Pyrrhia." He raised his talons up, staring at their tips. "I'll be an animus. But it sounds like as long as I'm in Pyrrhia, everyone there won't be able to look past what other me did, or what legends say other me did. Maybe I'll have to enchant everyone to like me, or something."

Skytaker stared at Darkstalker with an expression of shock, and started to open their mouth to say something, before Darkstalker interrupted.

"Don't worry, it's a joke," Darkstalker assured them. "Animus magic turns you evil, right? Well, I'll just have to be careful."

Skytaker turned back, and the six headed into the billowing clouds, smoke and ash entering their lungs. Skytaker let out a cough as they felt it, holding their breath. Darkness clouded their gaze, stinging their eyes.

"Follow my voice!" Ecru yelled out, the MudWing-SandWing hybrid invisible in cloud. "Head down!"

Ermine let out a yelp as lightning cracked through the cloud, lightning up behind his eyelids. He whimpered as he dove, the other dragons diving along with him. For a moment, he started to get dizzy, as the noxious fumes filled his lungs, stealing the oxygen from them. A dry scorching heat hotter than the desert sun crept between his scales, ash coating them.

Then, the six burst through the bottom of the cloud. Ecru opened her eyes, then let out a screech as she saw the ground heading quickly towards her.

"Up! Up!" She lifted her wings, the winds suddenly calm, flapping them as she kept herself from crashing. Finally, she curved around mid-flight, and ungracefully fell into the ground, a huge flat field of white between two valley walls. Ash leaped up around her in a puff, and she coughed as it covered her scales.

As the other five landed, Ecru raised her eyes to the sky. Only a dim glimmer of sunlight reached the ground through the clouds of ash, illuminating the area in a hazy glow. The dark clouds surrounded the group in every direction to no end. They had landed in a small hidden pocket of air, air-borne ash flowing over the surface of an invisible sphere, tossing and turning as lightning flashed every few seconds.

Ecru got to her paws, letting out a puff of breath to get the ash off her snout. Straight ahead, exactly where she'd expected it, a small structure stood, white flakes reaching up its walls. Ecru walked closer, closing her eyes as its presence made itself known to her. Seven pillars surrounded the front of the building in a semicircle, though there didn't appear to be any stone dragons on top of them, no queens decorating them. Even so, this was definitely the Mausoleum of Queen Frost.

When Ecru opened her eyes again, she had walked up to the doors of the Mausoleum. A thin sheet of ice covered it, a faint tingle running along her scales as she pressed her paw against it. Not cold, but warm. She looked up, reading the two names above the doors. Two names? she wondered. Not four? She was well-acquainted with the old script, and read them quickly. Frost was one, of course. The second IceWing queen, the Mausoleum's namesake. But the second . . . she squinted as she read it.

Ash.

Ecru raised her talons, the white substance running through it. Not snow, but ash. She took a step back. A different world, with a different history. What had happened here? She stared at the scenes carved into the door. An IceWing and a SkyWing killed another SkyWing wreathed in flame. The SkyWing tore something out from a MudWing's chest, and ate it. The SkyWing killed the IceWing. Then . . .

Ecru stared at the final scene for a moment, shivering even in the warmth of the ash. She pressed her claws against the fourth scene, trying to make sense of it. The SkyWing was there again. A circle had been carved in the metal beneath the ice, drawn around the SkyWing like a sphere. Tendrils seemed to rise up from the ground around the sphere, clutching onto it, like they were trying to break through. Ecru frowned. She could tell that something important was going on here, but she couldn't tell what. Some sort of ritual?

"So this is where you were going. I assume you're not just sightseeing?"

Ecru whipped her head around as she heard the voice, her attention drawn away from the carved scene. The other five got closer together, and Ecru saw Midnight bare her fangs, staring down the valley. Clawsteps had appeared in the ash, where the unfortunately familiar voice had come from.

Emerald scales became visible amidst the ash, General Glory frowning at the six escapees. She flicked her tail, four more RainWings appearing in a line across the valley floor. Apparently, their escape hadn't been as clean as they'd thought.

"How did you get here so fast?" Midnight growled. Glory wasn't supposed to have checked the Obscura for at least a while after their escape. She shouldn't have been able to get here so quickly.

"We trailed behind you the whole time," Glory sighed, tsking. "Deathbringer and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what your next escape plan would be, and honestly? We were expecting a lot more finesse than just whacking our guards until you got through. You didn't even make this interesting."

"It was my plan," Darkstalker boldly claimed, the NightWing-IceWing hybrid stepping forward, in front of the group. Skytaker opened their mouth, about to protest, before Darkstalker gave them a warning glance. "Tell you what, Glory? I'm the leader of the rebellion. How about we settle this, just us. One-on-one fight? Get revenge on me for brutalizing your mate?"

"I'm not stupid," Glory snorted. "The others will just escape while we're fighting." She flicked her tail, and the RainWings behind her stepped forward. "Take them alive."

Midnight bared her teeth, carefully watching the RainWings movements as they walked through the ash. "Ecru, get the dragonets inside. Darkstalker, what's their plan?"

"Frontal attack," Darkstalker replied as he read their minds. "You take the two on the left, I'll take the ones on the right." He moved up next to Midnight, crouching as he kept his gaze focused on the RainWings in front of him, slowly approaching.

With a quick growl, the two RainWings in front of Darkstalker leaped. One came down, talons out, almost scratching the hybrid's side as he narrowly dodged, ramming himself into the other one, knocking her down. As he dug his claws into her neck, the other RainWing pounced on his tail, forcing him to jump away, only getting a narrow scratch on the one he'd pinned down.

Midnight stayed still as the two RainWings tried to circle around her. She stretched her wings, glaring. She wouldn't let them pass. As soon as one approached getting past her, she leaped out, biting at her neck and tumbling the RainWing over. The other one darted forward, and Midnight rolled to the side, feeling sharp claws against her scales.

"Midnight!" Ecru squealed out, as she saw her mate injured, blood dripping into ash.

"I'm fine!" Midnight shouted back, throwing the RainWing to the side. She bit out at the other one, grabbing ahold of her then throwing her to the ground.

Ecru looked back towards the two doors, coated in a sheen of ice, running her talon along the thin crack. She pressed against it. They wouldn't open.

"Tiger?" Ecru asked, turning to the RainWing dragonet. "Do you know how to open them?"

Tiger closed her eyes, trying to remember exactly what Toxin had told her. They'd gotten in, so how could she? She turned around, eyes focusing on Ermine. "IceWing blood."

"Blood?" Ermine squeaked, staring at Tiger. He looked down at his own scales. "You mean me?"

Tiger nodded. "I don't know if Darkstalker's will work, and he's . . . busy." She jumped back towards the door as his tail flung out towards her, locked in battle with the two RainWings, trying to protect them. "It has to be yours."

Ermine squirmed. "W-will I die?"

Ecru grimaced. "I don't remember hearing tales of IceWings being sacrificed to get into the Mausoleum. Although to be honest, I don't remember hearing about anyone going inside it at all."

"You'll be fine," Tiger assured Ermine. She hesitated. Was she certain of that? He was pretty small for his age, so not a lot of blood. "Toxin said Polar did it, and he didn't die until later."

"Later?" Ecru asked. She glanced back towards the doors, the images imprinting in her mind. Maybe going into the Mausoleum wasn't such a good idea after all. But what choice did they have?

Ermine whimpered, as he stepped up to the doors, ducking as a RainWing's claws swiped over him. He looked back to see Midnight, grabbing ahold of the RainWing's tail and pulling her back, swinging her into one of the RainWings attacking Darkstalker. The two of them were being so brave, protecting the three dragonets they barely even knew. And here, Ermine was just letting them fight for him, while being too cowardly to spill a little of his own blood. He took a deep breath, as he placed his talons against the sheet of ice.

"H-how do I do this?" he asked.

"Cut yourself, and smear the blood on the ice?" Skytaker guessed. "I can do it for you, if you want."

Ermine shook his head, and poked a talon between his scales. He winced as he tore it into blue flesh, and a drop of blood came out. He brought his claws to the ice, wiping blue between the doors. That hadn't been so bad.

Ermine suddenly let out a high-pitched wail, even Glory turning in surprise to look at him. Blue blood was spilling from his foreleg, drawn onto the ice. It started to fill up the indentations in it, draining out like it was drawn to the ice. He leaned forward, onto the doors, as it crawled up the outline of the indentations, in two huge rectangles, one around each door.

One of the RainWings that had been fighting Darkstalker suddenly darted past him, trying to tackle Ermine and pull him away. Darkstalker turned, reading his mind and taking the opportunity, jumping onto the RainWing's back. The RainWing tried to turn, but Darkstalker's claws were already on his neck, and with a quick snap, he broke it, and the RainWing fell down.

"Got one!" Darkstalker yelled out to Midnight, who was starting to falter. Even with her size advantage, she wouldn't be able to fight long with two enemies at the same time. "Wanna trade?"

"Fine!" Midnight called back, jumping behind the RainWings as Darkstalker switched with her. She leaped at the other RainWing that Darkstalker had been attacking, mashing claws as she reared up, grabbing ahold of each other's forepaws. She twisted her tail out, for balance. In a fight of sheer strength she could win.

The RainWing suddenly reached out at Midnight, snapping at her face. Midnight let go, twisting around, and slammed her tail into the RainWing's jaws, hearing a yelp. She turned back, stepping forward as the RainWing tried to get off the ground.

"Duck!" Darkstalker yelled out at Midnight. Midnight turned to him, ducking, only to see talons leaping over her head, scratching along the top of her snout. She looked up as emerald green scales ran over her, Glory landing on the other side of Midnight.

Ecru stared up at the doors, looking on in amazement as Ermine's blood began to glow. The ice touching it started to melt like the blood was fire, and water dripped into the ash as lines began to form around the doors and their hinges. Ecru pressed her back up to the huge doors, pressing her paws into the ground as she tried to open them.

"C'mon!" she called out to Skytaker and Tiger, quickly joining her. "Push!"

In a few moments, the three had managed to get the doors open, just wide enough for a dragon to wriggle their way inside. Ecru gestured Tiger and Skytaker in, getting the dragonets inside the Mausoleum, before looking back towards Ermine.

"Ermine!" Ecru shouted, seeing the IceWing laying down, the ash rising up over his head. His eyes were closed, and blue blood had stained the area around him. She took a few steps, about to grab the fainted IceWing, when sharp talons raked into her snout.

Ecru jumped back, putting a paw up to her bleeding snout. She looked back, directly into Glory's eyes, the emerald RainWing's sharp fangs bared wide. She took a step back, claws shaking.

"Get away from her!" Midnight hissed, leaping at Glory. She rammed into her, pushing the RainWing towards the Mausoleum. Ecru let a faint smile out, breathing a sigh of relief as Glory turned around, focused on Midnight. Ecru tried to move around Glory, towards Ermine, only for another one of the RainWings to snarl at her. She winced as she took a step back, regretting not learning how to fight.

Suddenly, Ecru felt something push back against her. She turned to see one of the doors, seemingly on its own, gently nudged her scales. Her eyes went wide, and she pushed back against it. "No, no! It's not time yet!" Ecru squealed. "Midnight! You need to get inside! They're starting to close!"

Midnight looked over, only to yell out as Glory swiped back at her. She jumped to the side, but Glory didn't move, standing over Ermine. "We can't leave Ermine here, alone!" Midnight called back, trying to reach for the IceWing dragonet, only for Glory to attack her again.

"We won't!" Darkstalker shouted, running over towards Midnight, the two RainWings attacking him following. He snarled as he jumped at Glory, biting at her neck. Too quick for him to respond, she grabbed onto his head, throwing him to the side. He got back up almost instantly, claws stretched out. "Go! I'll stay with him!"

"What?" Midnight protested. "No! Leaving both you and Ermine here is even worse! We're all going together!" She turned and dove into the ash as a RainWing jumped at her, talons scraping along her tail, taking off a few scales.

"You need animus magic to stop the Empress, but you don't need two, right?" Darkstalker asked. He tried to run into Glory, but she leaped onto his back, pulling him onto the ground, clutching at his chest with her claws. "Antigonia is my home, for me to defend! You go to Pyrrhia, and I'll work things out here!"

"I'm not leaving you both!" Midnight called out.

"Midnight, please!" Ecru pleaded, pushing back against one of the closing doors, Tiger and Skytaker trying to hold the other one open together. It wouldn't be much longer before there wouldn't be enough space for Midnight to get through. "They're closing! We need you!"

Midnight glanced back, claws shaking as she saw Ecru's expression. Her heart raced. If she left now, she'd be abandoning Darkstalker and Ermine. But if she stayed . . . she wouldn't have another chance to get back to Pyrrhia, and all would be lost. She gulped as she made her choice, and jumped through the closing doors, pulling her tail through as they squeezed around her. Ecru let out a sigh of relief, almost crying as she let go of the doors, hugging Midnight tight.

One of the RainWings tried to leap through, but it was too late, and the RainWing backed away as the doors started to close around her neck. Midnight turned back, Glory's eyes glaring with vitriol at the four dragons.

"Promise me you'll win!" Darkstalker called out at Midnight, grinning as Glory shoved him to the side, and one of the RainWings pinned him down. "Promise me, for both our worlds!"

Midnight tried to force a smile, turning to a grimace as she stared back at Darkstalker. The only other animus she'd ever known. "I promise! I'll win!" she yelled back. "As long as you promise me that you keep yourself alive, and protect Ermine until then!"

Darkstalker smiled. "Deal!" he yelled out.

Midnight took a step back as one of the RainWings snarled, fangs bared as she tried to push the doors back open. But the two great doors closed, and she disappeared with them. The crack between the doors turned into a line of light, before fading, and the four were drenched in darkness.

Chapter 40

The dragon and the scavenger stood, facing each other. Trustbreaker stared down at Liliana with huge eyes, as big as each of her fists. She looked back, golden eyes twinkling. An arc of lightning crackled between her bare feet and the ground, snapping as it hit the calm meadow of grass. The Empress's RainWings and the Talons of Peace surrounded the two in a wide circle. The bolt of electricity reflected in Sapphire's glimmering eyes as Aurora hold him, still.

"I know why you're here," Trustbreaker said, sitting back on his haunches, his head lowered. Even though he was three times the scavenger's size, and could have snapped her up in a single bite, his pose was deferential, scared, subservient. Another bolt crackled, though the sky was clear. "I'll surrender myself to you, as long as you leave Pyrrhia."

Liliana yawned, and sat back, swinging her legs up as she landed on the grass. She crossed her arms, robe flowing with them. "Really?" she asked. "You think you have that much power over me?"

A grim look came over Trustbreaker's face, and the NightWing stared directly down at the scavenger. "Even if you've hidden your mind from me, I know you better than anyone else does. You want me to come with you willingly. Not taken by force."

"Do I, now?" Liliana echoed, unimpressed. She shook her head. "I'm not going to leave Pyrrhia. I've found a world in need, one worse than Antigonia." She held out a hand, gesturing around the circle of silent dragons at the Talons of Peace. "They tried for twenty years to stop a war between dragons. And just three years later, and three more years have started. Pyrrhia needs me. I'll be able to make this world a perfect utopia, for humans and dragons alike. You can't object to that, can you?"

"You're trying to convince me?" Trustbreaker asked, surprised.

Liliana smiled, and reached a hand up to the NightWing, ready to take a claw in it. Electricity crackled between her fingers. "Did it work?"

Trustbreaker frowned, a concerned look coming over him. He lifted his head up, black scales sparkling with hints of orange in the sunlight. "Liliana," he replied, hesitantly. "Remember what happened last time."

"I was young and naïve then," Liliana said. "Both of us were. We'd seen the world, but not enough of it. But now, I can do it. I know I can."

"It's not that!" Trustbreaker huffed, annoyance and pleading mixing in his voice. "You're playing with others' lives. Controlling them. I've seen it; it's wrong."

"What's wrong is this world," Liliana sighed. "The needless pain, the endless suffering. I can fix it. Whatever your qualms are, my methods worked back on Antigonia. I've grown, Duskwind, and you're the one I have to take for it. Because you stole the Wishstone, I figured out how to do things without it. I did what your Talons couldn't. Antigonia has been at peace since you left."

"Please, Liliana," Trustbreaker whispered. "This world has problems, yes, but destroying and rebuilding it from scratch doesn't fix them."

Liliana frowned, getting back up to her feet. The grass around the area where she'd been sitting had become blackened and charred. "It does," she said. "It will. I have great ideas, and I've had a long time to think about them. I can make it work."

"I know," Trustbreaker said, lowering his head. He laid himself down on his underbelly, almost meeting Liliana's gaze eye-to-eye. The NightWing let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have betrayed you. We should've worked together. Things wouldn't have ended up like this."

"We still can work together!" Liliana assured him. "It's not too late."

Trustbreaker shook his head. "No. Not like this."

Liliana turned her head away, staring down into the grass. She held out her hand, a beam of sunlight dripping from it. Both her and Trustbreaker remained solemn and quiet for a moment, not a word to say.

"I missed you," Liliana finally spoke.

Trustbreaker nodded, his voice quiet, yearning for a time long passed. "I know. I missed you too. I wish things could just go back to the way they were."

Liliana turned her head, taking a step towards the NightWing. She put her hand on his neck, gently running it over his black scales as she stared up into his eyes. "They still can."

Trustbreaker sighed, looking down at Liliana. Suddenly, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Fire-red scales had appeared at the entrance to the Talons' caves, a panting Inferno walking out.

Trustbreaker turned to the scavenger, gaze now filled with urgency. He opened his mouth. "Lily—"

Suddenly, Liliana's hand clenched, grasping around a black scale. Golden light streamed from her eyes, and lightning crackled, travelling from her toes to her fingertips. Trustbreaker's eyes went wide for a moment as she sent it into his neck, multicolored bolts of electricity bursting from his scales. A loud snap ricocheted across the meadow, and the smell of burning flesh rose up from the NightWing.

"TRUSTBREAKER!" Inferno screamed, running towards the NightWing as Liliana pushed him over, and he flopped limply onto the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. Aurora turned her head, but Inferno was already past her, wings flapping as she half-landed, half-fell by Trustbreaker, the grass around her paws turning to ash.

Inferno stared down at the NightWing beneath her, talons shaking as more blood leaked from his jaws. "No, no," she whispered, wanting to put her claws around him, to shake and hug the dragon who the closest thing she'd ever had to a father, to hold him close as he died. Tears ran from her eyes, instantly boiling as they hit her scales, rising up in a cloud of mist.

"Don't worry," Liliana smiled, taking a step back from Trustbreaker as a bubble of blood burst from his mouth. "When this is all over, I'll bring you back. I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you betray me again."

"Please, don't!" Inferno cried, turning to the scavenger. "Bring him back! Don't let him die!" She looked towards Aurora, wanting her to do something.

A golden light shrouded Liliana, and the scavenger let out a deep breath as her figure grew. Her fingers sharpened as they turned into talons, wings forming beneath her robes, covering her as scales formed in her skin. When the light was faded, Liliana had changed back into her RainWing form, the same smile on her face. She stared down at Trustbreaker, shaking her head as if pitying him.

"It's been twenty years," Empress Liliana said to the dying NightWing as the light faded from his eyes, smile turning to a frown. "You don't know me anymore. You think I did all this, just for you?"

The Empress turned towards Inferno, extending her claws. A bolt of lightning shot out from each of them, and Inferno let out a scream as they sailed towards her, closing her eyes. But when the SkyWing opened them, instead of hitting her, the lightning had enclosed around her on all sides, forming cage. Inferno turned her terrified gaze towards Aurora, eyes wide as the cage rose into the sky, the SkyWing floating up with it.

"No, Duskwind," the Empress laughed, turning the cage, forcing Inferno to look down at her. "I didn't come for you. I came for the Wishstone." She tilted her head, greedily staring up into Inferno's blue eyes. "Hello, Ash. It's been a while."